Feelings
by missmoney101
Summary: Omega plays matchmaker, Tex and Wash grow closer and Carolina makes some interesting discoveries...
1. Chapter 1

Feelings

Why could neither of them see it?

Omega sighed to himself as he watched the Freelancers eating their lunch. It had been four days since Washington and Texas had even **spoken**, let alone expressed their feelings to each other. Sometimes it was hard being an AI; knowing your person's feelings and they themselves being completely ignorant of them. More than once, Omega had tried to encourage Texas to tell Washington but she had told him that she 'did not know what her feelings were at the moment and to drop the subject.' Omega sighed again as he saw Washington pass Texas without either of them even acknowledging the other's presence. Time to take matters into his own hands.

* * *

During the Director's briefing about the Insurrection and shit, Omega appeared next to Washington. The grey and yellow Freelancer seemed to be almost falling asleep but when Omega hissed his name, he jumped about a foot in the air. Looking around wildly, he saw Omega watching him in an amused manner.

"Jesus!" Washington hissed. "Don't scare me like that…uh…Omega is it?"

"Correct Agent Washington," the AI replied. "I'm here to pass on a message from Agent Texas." Washington flushed.

"Really? Tex? Is it…I…er….?" he stuttered.

"How about I tell you the message first and you ask questions later?" Omega said, amused.

"Um…yeah, I think that would be good…you know…" The redness had now crept to Washington's neck.

"She wants you to meet her tomorrow night in the classroom at midnight," Omega lied through his teeth. "You'd better not be late," he added as he disappeared. Washington swallowed heavily.

"Agent Washington, what have I just been saying?" the Director's voice barked.

"Oh…I…um…" Washington glanced round for inspiration. "We need to clean up the Resistance?" he said hopefully, spying a mop in the corner. The Director was not pleased.

"Agent Washington, I will see you later," he said ominously and he and the Councillor departed from the room. Carolina immediately wacked Washington on the head and stalked out. The other agents offered condolences and Texas murmured in his ear as she left

"Just say you were concentrating on the weaknesses of the Resistance soldiers. He'll go easier on you then." Omega looked back at the dejected figure in the briefing room before the door closed. Sometimes, you had to make sacrifices for love.

* * *

Later, when Texas was in her room, Omega appeared next to her.

"What is it Omega?" she asked irritably.

"No need to be rude. I've got a message from Agent Washington," the AI lied. "He wants to meet you tomorrow night in the classroom at midnight." Texas stopped what she was doing and looked suspiciously at him. Omega tried to keep an innocent air around him but it was pretty damn hard. Unlike Theta, who was a natural at doing it. Eventually, Texas nodded once and went back to writing her report. Omega hadn't realised he was holding his breath and let it out quietly.

* * *

Washington muttered to himself as he removed his armour. He had just been subjected to fifteen minutes of lecturing from the Director. He had used the advice Texas had given him and the Director had eased up a bit but he still had to listen about how 'concentration is key, blah blah blah, we always need to be on our toes, blah blah blah' and shit like that. Sighing, Washington pulled out a book from his book case and smiled when he looked at the title; Cuddle the Cutest Kitten. True it was a book for little kids but it was his first ever book and reading it always clamed him down. As Washington lay down on his bed and opened the book, there was a soft knock on the door. Opening it, he saw Texas standing there with a report in her hand. They both seemed quite surprised to see the other one there. Washington realised that he was still holding Cuddle the Cutest Kitten and quickly hid it behind his back.

"Um, is Maine in?" Texas asked. "Cos I've got his report which he asked me to read through and sign." Omega appeared beside her and crossed his fingers. This was the closest they'd been for days.

"Er…no…" Washington stumbled over his words. "I think he said something about a training match with Carolina." he added lamely.

"Oh, ok," Texas was slightly pink in the face. "When he comes back can you give this to him?" She handed the report to Washington, who was also quite pink. As their hands touched, Omega leant forwards hopefully. But no. Washington and Texas said their goodbyes and Washington closed the door. Omega wanted to scream out loud and stamp his foot. But, as he bitterly reminded himself, there was always tomorrow night.

* * *

The next day, Omega could not stand still. As New York commented when he saw Omega, he was jitterier than Theta. When Texas was training against North Dakota, he was so distracted that Theta almost got the jump on him. He had managed to snap back into the real world right at the last minute but it was still kinda embarrassing. Texas kept asking him what was wrong but he couldn't exactly tell her so he lied and said that he had been deprived of a bedtime story.

"Alright," Texas said but she still looked suspicious. Whenever Omega saw Washington, he'd look the other way and would begin talking rapidly to an agent or an AI, whoever was closest really. Even they seemed to notice how jumpy he was, with Sigma pointing out his speech patterns were more hurried which expressed nervousness and Wyoming recommending that Texas took him to the medics. When it was time for bed, Texas read him his favourite extract from _All Hell let Loose; the world at war 1939-1945_. It calmed him down a bit but midnight couldn't come sooner.

* * *

Texas slipped out of her room and hurried along the corridor to the classroom. Finding it unlocked (Omega had made a deal with New York), she entered. Washington hadn't arrived yet so she sat down and played with the control panels. A few minutes later, Washington arrived.

"Hi?" he ventured.

"Hi," Texas replied. "Omega said that you wanted to meet me here." Omega felt his breath catch. _Shit shit shit shit shit._

"Really?" Washington looked at the AI. "Because he told me that _you _wanted to meet _me _here." Both agents looked at Omega who was trying to shrink out of their sight but failing miserably.

"Guilty as charged," he muttered. Texas pulled her helmet off and looked at her AI. Washington followed suit.

"Well seeing as you're both here, you should do something to make sure that it's not a wasted trip?" Omega inquired hopefully. Texas silenced him with a scowl but Washington looked thoughtful.

"He does have a point, you know…" he mused. Putting his helmet on the bench, he looked deep into Texas' eyes and leaned forwards.

"You know, I never got to thank you properly for helping me with my nightmare issues," he murmured quietly. Texas also leaned forwards.

"Yes, as I remember, we were so rudely interrupted," she replied. Omega watched with glee as the two Freelancers stared deep into each others eyes. Texas put her hand on Washington's shoulder and Washington put his hand on the side of her head. They both leaned in even further.

This time there were no interruptions.


	2. Chapter 2

Findings

What was going on between them?

Carolina watched suspiciously as Texas and Washington ate lunch together and laughed about something. They had never been this close before so what had happened? As she sat watching them, York, North, South, Maine and Wyoming came over and put their trays down on the table.

"Delta, remind me why I agreed to train with Tex this morning," York groaned. Pulling off his helmet, he showed the other freelancers a spectacular black eye. North whistled and Delta's hologram appeared.

"Agent York, the reason you agreed to train with Agent Texas this morning was that you wanted to improve your hand-to-hand combat skills. However, judging from your current appearance, I would say that…"

"It was a rhetorical question!" York put his head in his hands.

"Don't worry mate, you're not the only one," Wyoming reassured him. "The other day, North, Maine and I did Last Man Standing against her. I have no idea why I keep agreeing to do it. This is the fourth time I've had to go to the medical room." North and Maine nodded in agreement.

"Wash seems to have improved as well," South said thoughtfully. "He and I were doing target practice today. He hit every one in record time and didn't even give me a chance to fire." At that moment, the cheery voice of F.I.L.S.S. chimed across the room.

"Agent Carolina, it is time for your training session. Today, you will be training against Agent Texas." Carolina slammed her cup down on the table. Even the mention of Texas' name made her blood boil nowadays.

"Carolina, calm down," North raised his eyebrow. "It's only a training session. You've got to stop taking these things so seriously." Glaring at him, Carolina stalked out of the room and viciously pulled on her helmet. She was going to show Texas how a real agent fought.

* * *

"Why?" Carolina screamed in the privacy of her room. "Why do I always lose?" She threw her helmet at the wall and flung herself onto her bed. South looked up from the book she was reading.

"That bad?" she asked in a voice that meant she didn't really give a shit.

"That bad? That bad!?" Carolina whirled towards her. "I was humiliated. The Director told me that if I carry on being 'as bad as that' then I wouldn't be number 2 any more! What is so special about her?"

"I don't know Carolina," South said in a bored voice. "Why don't you find out?" Carolina sat down again and thought before springing up again and pacing about in the middle of the room.

"I know what I'm doing tonight," she said triumphantly.

"Whatever," South turned the page in her book. "What's that then?"

* * *

Carolina crept down the corridor that evening, hiding in the shadows whenever she thought that someone was coming. Looking at the name tags on the doors, Washington and Maine, North Dakota and New York, Wyoming and Florida, she stopped when she came to the door that merely said Texas. Hearing voices behind it, she stood still and listened carefully.

"Are you seeing him tonight?" a deep baritone asked.

"Maybe, Omega. I don't know," a higher voice, which Carolina recognised as Texas', replied.

"He'll be disappointed," Omega said in a sing-song way.

"Shut up Omega," Texas snapped. "And this has to be kept a secret. Who knows what the Director would do if he found out?"

"He wouldn't be too hard on you, seeing as he has feelings for you," Omega said slyly. Carolina felt her heart skip a beat. The Director was in love with Texas?

"Omega, I said not to talk about that!" Texas hissed. "It's not my fault that I remind him of his dead girlfriend. It's just coincidence that we share the same name and that I look and sound a little bit like her."

"Imagine Carolina's face if she found out!" Omega sniggered.

"Well here it is!" Carolina yelled, throwing open the door and storming into the room. Omega and Texas looked at her. Omega immediately descended into peals of laughter, which were more like cackles that proper laughs. Texas scowled at him and he stopped. Surprisingly, Texas hadher helmet off and Carolina saw that she did indeed have a face which was at that moment in time, glaring at her with barely concealed anger.

"What," Texas walked up to her. "Are you doing listening into my conversations and entering my room without permission?" Her eyes flashed with rage. Omega appeared next to her, also glaring.

"I know you're hiding something Texas, and I am going to find out what it is," Carolina snapped back.

"My personal life is none of your business!" Texas snarled. "Now GET OUT!" Carolina knew that it was time to beat a hasty (but dignified) retreat. Marching out the room, she soon lost the respect she was commanding by stumbling and almost falling flat on her face, which set Omega off again. Slamming the door shut, she stalked back to her room and decided to come back later in the night.

* * *

At midnight, Carolina repeated her sneaking down the corridor and hiding in the shadows until she once again came to Texas' room. Seeing the door slightly open, she peered in. To her surprise, she saw Texas sitting on her bed with her head in her hands and Wash and Omega on either side of her, comforting her about something. Hearing her name, Carolina leaned in so she could hear better.

"…just came straight into my room," Texas was saying. "She was pissed off about something,I just don't know what. What is her problem with me? All I've ever done to her is taken her space on a leader board which nobody really cares about." Carolina's eyes narrowed. Nobody really cared about the leader board? She cared!

"It's not your fault you're so much better than her," Omega pointed out.

"Yeah," Wash said, hugging Texas. "Carolina's just jealous. She's always been like this about the leader board. She's never satisfied unless she's the best and she never knows when she's met her match." Carolina felt a dull thud inside her. Wash, one of her most loyal members of her team, had gone onto Texas' side. Traitor.

"I know what'll cheer you up," Wash suggested. Texas looked up.

"What?"

"This," Wash said and pressed his lips to hers. Moving closer together, the two freelancers were oblivious to anything except each other. Smirking, Carolina turned away. She now had perfect blackmail material. Wash and Texas had no idea she was there. She could sneak back to her room unnoticed and exact her revenge in the morning.

She'd forgotten about Omega.

As she went to go back to her room, she saw the AI hovering in front of her looking unimpressed. Clapping her hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp, she quickly looked back into Texas' room to see if she or Washington had heard her. Thankfully they hadn't. Turning back to the AI, she gulped. All he had to do was inform Texas and the Director and she'd lose her spot as number 2 and possibly be kicked off the leader board. Omega didn't say anything. He didn't need to. Paling, Carolina pushed past him and ran back to her room. As he watched her go, Omega's lips curved up into a smile.

This was going to be fun.


	3. Chapter 3

Tensions

So, she'd discovered their little secret, had she?

Omega looked over to where Carolina sat with New York and North and South Dakota. She looked like she was about to tell them something, before she looked over at him and (wisely) changed her mind. Omega smirked to himself. Ever since he had caught Carolina spying on Texas and Washington, she had been more nervous than he had ever seen her. They both knew that if Carolina dared to let slip that Texas and Washington were in a relationship, Omega would inform Texas and the Director that she had been spying; a much more serious offence. Carolina would lose her spot at number 2 on the leader board and (Omega hoped) maybe even be kicked off. Having already lost her spot as number 1 to Texas, Carolina wasn't willing to let that happen.

"Hello brother," a silky voice suddenly murmured in his ear. Omega jumped about five feet and turned round to see Sigma standing next to him and Gamma on the other side. The blue AI scowled and said nothing to him; he was still annoyed about Omega getting the jump on him when they were doing Last Man Standing against Wyoming, South Dakota and Florida. Looking past him, he saw that Wyoming and Maine had joined Texas and Washington at their table.

"Sigma," Omega curtly replied. "Gamma," he added as an afterthought.

"You know brother, I've been thinking," Sigma began, before he was interrupted by a familiar green glow.

"Sigma, protocol hasn't changed since the last time I reminded you," Delta frowned at him. "AI units are not permitted to speak with each other."

"You're kind of doing that right now Delta," Omega pointed out, a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Negative. I am merely reminding you of the rules," Delta retaliated.

"Nobody listens to the rules Delta," Gamma finally spoke up.

"Information downloaded into databanks," Delta replied.

"Was that sarcasm?" Sigma asked. "I can never tell with you."

"Delta are you boring the others again?" New York asked. He and North Dakota were standing by the side of the table. The four AIs looked up in surprise and then looked to where the two agents had previously been sitting. Carolina and South Dakota were screaming at each other and everybody could see that it was about to turn into a fully fledged fight.

"Omega, it's almost half past," Texas suddenly spoke.

"Eh?"

"Training. Ring any bells?"

"Don't patronise me."

"Whatever. Are you coming or not?"

Omega grumbled as he appeared next to Texas' head. Bidding the other agents goodbye, she put her tray back and strode towards the door. As she passed Carolina, the teal agent looked up. Omega gave her a sarcastic salute and she turned red before turning back to continue her argument with South Dakota.

"What was that about?" Texas asked; she had obviously seen him.

"What? Er, nothing," Omega shrugged.

"Omega, you are the worst liar ever. Of all time."

* * *

After a vigorous round of Last Man Standing (after which Wyoming swore he would never do it again, North Dakota rolled around clutching his balls and New York was knocked unconscious) Texas collapsed on her bed and pulled off her helmet. Omega appeared next to her.

"I'm bored," he announced.

"Oh God Omega, are you ever satisfied?" Texas opened one eye.

"Do you know what would make me satisfied?" he persisted.

"The world aflame and crushed, your enemies lying dead before your feet and you the master of all you see?" Texas groaned.

"Well, that and…" Omega pleaded. Texas sighed.

"I can't go around picking fights with Carolina all the time," she hissed. "Anyway, what is your problem with her?"

"I think the question is what is her problem with you?"

"I've tried to be nice to her; it's not my fault if she keeps throwing it back in my face."

"And she spied on you the other night," the words were out of Omega's mouth before he could stop them.

"She was pissed about something, and she just came into my room. I already knew she was there." Texas yawned, sat up and went into the bathroom to grab a glass of water.

"I wasn't talking about that time," Omega said softly.

* * *

The next time he saw Carolina was when she and Texas were training together. As usual, it was Last Man Standing. Wyoming and Maine were already on the floor moaning with pain and clutching various parts of their body; Wyoming his head and Maine his balls. At the moment, Carolina and Texas were just sparring.

Get her! Omega screamed inside Texas' head so only she could hear him. Punch her into the wall! Show her how the real number 1 fights! Texas sighed and Omega was sure she would ignore his advice. He was proved wrong however, and Texas' fist pushed Carolina head over heels into the other two agents, who had just managed to get up. They were knocked down like skittles.

"Match concluded. Winner: Agent Texas. A 20.8% increase." F.I.L.S.S. chirped happily. Carolina pulled her helmet off and threw it away with a scream of rage. Her face contorted with anger, she pointed a shaking finger at Texas.

"You can't keep your secrets forever, Texas!" she shrieked. "Not from me! Never from me!" Omega sensed Texas' confusion and growing annoyance. He appeared before Carolina.

"Well you aren't exactly an angel yourself! You can't keep your secrets forever Carolina," he mimicked her. "Not from me. Never from me." Texas looked between her AI and her rival but decided not to intervene.

"This little charade is going to end very soon!" Carolina tried to sound threatening but her voice went too high pitched. Instead, she sounded like she'd inhaled helium.

"On the contrary," Omega laughed. "The fun has just begun."


	4. Chapter 4

Blackmail

What did he mean?

Carolina looked over to where Texas, Wash, York and North were sitting with their AIs. She couldn't stop looking at Texas' AI, Omega. The other day when she had been training against Texas, and completely humiliated, he had appeared and told her that the fun had just begun. This was downright blackmail! She hadn't done anything wrong! As number 1-no, number 2 (Carolina's lip twisted as she was forced to remind herself of that fact) it was her duty to know everything about her fellow agents, even if it meant spying on them. However, Omega had caught her in the act and she had had to be on her toes ever since. If he told the Director…Carolina shuddered when she thought of the consequences. She would definitely lose her place as number 2 and might even be kicked off the leader board or worse, kicked out of Project Freelancer. She wasn't going to let that happen but she had to tell someone. Someone who was able to keep secrets but if someone was confronted by them then that person wouldn't be able to keep anything hidden from them. Someone who was respected and/or feared enough so that nobody would be able to blackmail them into keeping quite. Carolina smirked to herself. She knew the perfect person.

* * *

Agent Maine was sitting in the room he shared with Wash, cleaning his bruteshot and talking to Sigma, when there was a knock on the door. Growling to say that they could enter, he was surprised to see Carolina standing in the doorway. Striding over to him, she sat on his bed and got straight to the point.

"Washington and Texas are in a relationship," she said bluntly. Maine blinked in surprise. He had wondered, like everyone else on the Mother of Invention, why Wash and Tex had been acting differently. Now he knew. Maine frowned when he thought of how the Director would react when he heard the news. Everyone knew that the Director was sweet on Tex. As if she had read his mind, Carolina added

"I can't tell the Director. Texas' AI…caught me spying on them." She looked away guiltily. Maine raised his eyebrow. That fact didn't surprise him. Carolina was so jealous of Tex that she'd resort to anything. Sigma appeared in between the two Freelancers.

"Agent Carolina, I am assuming that if Omega knew that you had informed anyone of this fact, he would notify the Director and Agent Texas and you would be severely punished?" he asked.

"Yes," Carolina said and fell silent again. A few awkward moments passed before she excused herself and walked out the room. Maine lay back on his bed and thought to himself. The Director would go mental if he knew that Tex was in a relationship, seeing as he loved her himself and Wash and Tex were breaking the rules. However, it was equally wrong for Carolina to be spying on her fellow agents and Wash was what he considered to be his friend. He wasn't that close to Tex but he did feel that he owed her his respect seeing as she saved him and his team in their latest mission to try and catch the Leader of the Insurrectionists, even if she did pummel him (and his balls) within an inch of his life when he did Last Man Standing against her. Unsure of what to do, Maine went back to cleaning his bruteshot.

* * *

Washington was whistling happily to himself as he strolled down the corridor. He and Tex had just spent an amazing half hour to together watching the stars and kissing. He even enjoyed the bit where Omega had appeared to tell Tex something and instead told them to 'get a room'. His lips still tingled from where he had been pressing them against hers. Smiling, he opened the door to his shared room and found Maine sitting on his bed looking unimpressed.

"Um, hey Maine," Wash sat on his own bed and started taking off his armour. "How's it going buddy?" Maine growled something which translated as: You have a lot of explaining to do.

"Wha-? Explaining? Is this about the time I accidentally broke the air conditioning so that the whole ship was at 3ºC for 2 weeks?"

That was you?

"Er, no."

But anyway, this isn't about that.

"Then what is it about?"

Maine sighed. Wash, you know the Director doesn't approve of relationships, especially when Texas is involved.

"How did you-"

It doesn't matter. What I'm trying to tell you is be careful. The Director doesn't take kindly to rule breakers, and you know that. He'll be even harder on you because it's Tex. You know he's in love with her.

Wash looked at Maine in silence for a long time before a look of understanding dawned on his face, quickly followed by a look of rage.

"Carolina," he growled.

Wha-? I never said that!

"You didn't have to."

* * *

Texas flopped down on her bed and opened her book. Omega appeared next to her, craning his neck so he could see the writing. When he saw that it was The Battle of Britain-Five Months That Changed History; May-October 1940 he gave a cry of glee and looked expectantly at Tex. Sighing, she smiled and began reading out loud but was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door. Opening it, she found Wash standing there.

"Wash," she said, surprised. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I don't think pleasure is the right word," Wash ran his hand through his hair. Tex motioned for him to come in and sat down on her bed.

"Carolina knows we're together," Wash groaned. "She's already told Maine." Tex let out her breath in a hiss of annoyance and Omega actually snarled. Wash sat down next to Tex and pulled of his helmet, to which she followed suit. Omega hovered in between them.

"So if she's told Maine, then who knows how many other people she's told," Tex sighed. "She may have told the Director by now." Omega began to growl and the two Freelancers looked at him in surprise.

"I caught her spying on you two the other night," the AI explained. "After she had stormed in the first time." Wash's fists clenched and Tex put her head in her hands.

"Well at least we know she won't tell the Director," Wash growled. "She doesn't want to lose her spot on the leader board. That fucking bitch!" Tex put her hand on his clenched fists and Wash visible relaxed.

"Sorry," he whispered. "It's just…"

"I know." Tex said quietly. She put her head on his shoulder and Wash placed his head on top of hers. Sensing that they wanted to be alone for a bit, Omega silently logged off.

* * *

Carolina hadn't felt this good in ages. Ever since Texas had taken her spot on the leader board, she had been purely focused on reclaiming it and now she had but one over on the black Freelancer. Striding jovially down the corridor, she opened the door to the room she and South shared. Pulling off her helmet, she tossed it onto her bed and took a book from the bookcase. She opened it at a random page and started to read, but she couldn't stop thinking about her achievements that day. South walked in and froze and the content smirk on Carolina's face.

"Aren't you going to ask me about my achievements today?" Carolina couldn't keep the smugness out of her voice.

"I would…if I actually gave a shit," South replied. Carolina smiled wider. Even South couldn't dampen her triumphant mood. Later that night, she crept along the corridor to Texas' room and waited outside with her ear pressed to the door. She listened to Texas commenting on how they had to keep their relationship a secret and Wash replied that they also had to make sure that Carolina told no one else. Carolina herself froze. She cursed quietly to herself. She never should have trusted Maine; in the heat of the moment she had forgotten that Wash and Maine were friends. Turning around, she intended to stride into his room and give Maine a piece of her mind.

Instead, she had a moment of déjà vu as she came face to face with Omega.


	5. Chapter 5

Anger

**A.N. For all the people who have favourited/followed this story, I can't thank you enough! I'm relatively new to the fanfiction world so all your reviews really mean a lot to me. Sorry that it has taken some time for me to upload this chapter, but I've been experiencing some writer's block, no ideas for this next chapter (all those goddamn exams have taken their toll) and I've been preoccupied with writing my latest (and my first) Transformers fanfiction story; All Shook Up. I'm terribly sorry for keeping you all waiting and I hope you're satisfied with this chapter**

* * *

Would she ever learn?

Omega quietly mused to himself as Texas slept, not wanting to wake her up. Less than half an hour ago, he had caught Carolina spying on Tex and Washington…again. The teal freelancer had blushed bright red and mumbled something about having a walk before turning on her heel and running back to her room. The AI had hovered there for a moment before realising that he had got Carolina right where he wanted her and then logging off. Tex and Wash had stayed with each other for another 10 minutes before Wash had to go. Omega decided not to tell Tex about Carolina; she had enough to worry about what with wondering how many people Carolina had told of Tex and Wash's secret relationship. Omega also noticed, with interest and satisfaction, that she had begun to get angry with Carolina. Anger was strength and strength could be used against enemies. Omega's lips curved up into a smile. That anger could be used to remind Carolina why she wasn't number 1 any more.

* * *

Tex yawned and pulled herself out of bed. Staggering into the bathroom, she slipped under the shower and began humming to herself as she massaged shampoo into her hair. Once she had finished in the shower, she dried herself and scowled as she remembered what she had learned last night. What had she ever done to Carolina? She tried to be nice to her but the teal freelancer always threw it back in her face, and she had now resorted to spying on Tex. Tex sighed and went back into her bedroom. She got her armour out and began fitting the pieces into place. As she was pulling on her helmet, there was a knock on the door. Frowning, she looked at the time; it was 5:30. All the other freelancers should be in the mess hall having breakfast. Opening the door, she saw the Director.

"Sir?" she said, surprised. The Director didn't usually visit Freelancers in their rooms.

"Agent Texas," the Director said curtly. "I hope I am not interrupting anything?"

"No sir," Tex stood back and allowed him to enter her room. The Director stood and looked at the books on her bookcase, in particular the war books, the ones Omega enjoyed.

"This is about Omega and his influence over you," he said. "I have been informed by the other agents that you are much more aggressive than you used to be."

"Sir, when you say 'other agents', do you mean Carolina?" Tex asked, fuming inside.

"Agent Carolina may have mentioned something, yes. But I do not understand what she has to do with any of this."

"Then she's bullshitting sir," Tex said frostily. "Omega is fine; he's operating well and not showing any signs of going into rampancy. And his moods do not influence mine. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go to breakfast; I have a training match in less than an hour." She pushed past the Director and walked out into the corridor.

"Be careful Allison," she heard him call after her, his voice considerably softer. And she could have sworn he added quietly

"I can't bear to lose you again."

* * *

"What was that about?" Omega demanded after Tex had finished breakfast and was making her way down to the training room.

"I have no idea Omega," Tex said wearily. Suddenly she stopped dead. Maine was standing in front of her with his arms folded.

"_I hope you know what you're getting into_," Omega translated his growl.

"What?" Tex stared at the mute freelancer.

"_You and Wash. I've told him this and I'll tell you too_."

"How did you know about…? Carolina," Tex answered her own question. "You're the one she told."

"_Yes, but that's not the point. What I'm saying is be careful. The Director would be livid if he found out. You he wouldn't be so hard on but he could fire Wash from the Project or ban you two from seeing each other_."

"Maine, there are some things that even the Director can't control with orders. Like I've said before, I can't help it if I remind the Director of his dead girlfriend, I can't help it if I share the same name as her. He might want me and him to be together but he can't control my feelings, nor Wash's. And we want to stay together, so together we'll stay. I know you mean well, Maine, but it's my life and nothing can change that," Tex was a little breathless from her long speech. Maine nodded once.

"_I see. Well I guess I can't stop you two from being together. And before you ask, no I haven't told anyone else about this but I don't know about Carolina. I guess I'll see you around_."

"Thanks Maine," Tex said softly. As she walked past him, he called after her

"Just one more thing, well a favour if it's ok with you?"

"What's that?"

"_The next time I do Last Man Standing against you, will you please leave my balls intact_?" **(A.N. Just for you themythick ;D)**

* * *

"Why are people so desperate to keep us apart?" Tex yelled in her room in the evening. After a long day of training (despite her promise to Maine about leaving his balls alone, she had no intention of showing any mercy to Florida, York or Wyoming), she had to endure Carolina's triumphant looks, yet when Omega had appeared the looks had turned to horror. On top of all that, Carolina had grabbed Wash for the entire evening, meaning Tex wouldn't be able to see him that night. Her relationship with Wash was the one aspect of her life that was outside the rules, that wasn't controlled. For Agent Texas hated nothing more than to be controlled.

"Why?" she yelled again. "The Director, Carolina, I guess Maine too, even though he means well. Screw them! Screw them all! The Director has to learn to let go and Carolina's just a jealous whore!" Tex threw herself onto her bed and didn't bother to stop the tear that trickled out of her eye from falling off her face, onto the floor. Omega appeared next to her.

"This anger is good," he said, softer than she had ever heard him speak. "This anger will stop you from feeling like every part of your life is controlled. This anger will show Carolina why she isn't the best of the best and it will show the Director that you aren't Allison, his dead girlfriend, but Agent Texas, an independent woman. This anger will allow you to continue you relationship with Washington without anyone trying to tear you apart." Tex slowly sat up. What Omega said appealed to her, as it should, seeing as he knew her better than anyone. She looked at her AI.

"When do we begin?"


	6. Chapter 6

New Faces

**A.N. Once again, I'm sorry that this chapter has taken so long to upload but All Shook Up took over. I blame Gamma. I hope you like this one; Hawaii is my OC and he and Wash will compete for Tex's affections. I thought that it was time to introduce some rivalry and an OC. Thank you to everyone who has read/reviewed/followed/favourite this story!**

* * *

"Agents," the Director announced the following morning. "I am pleased to announce that we have a new comrade joining us today. May I introduce, Agent Hawaii. Welcome to Project Freelancer." The top 8 Freelancers and their AIs looked curiously at the new arrival. He was wearing lilac and white Mark VI armour and he had a sniper rifle slung across his back. Removing his helmet to reveal sea green eyes that twinkled with amusement, dark brown hair that fell across his face and a strong jaw, he made all the females make noises of appreciation and York, Wash and North scowl viciously.

"Hello my fellow agents," Hawaii said, his voice had a soft lilt to it. "I am honoured to be accepted into this prestigious project. I have heard so much about it."

"I say old chap, prey tell what's your armour ability?" Wyoming's British accent cut through the awkward silence of the other agents. Hawaii smiled again.

"Armour lock," he answered.

"Do you have an AI?" Wash asked in an accusatory tone, making everyone blink in surprise at this out-of-character behaviour.

"I'm afraid I do not," Hawaii didn't seem affected. "Although I would like one."

"Well you'll have to wait!" South snapped. "There's a list you know and I'm _not_ getting pushed back _again_." She glared at Carolina.

"That's enough South Dakota!" the Director barked. "Allis-Agent Texas, would you please give Agent Hawaii a tour around the _Mother of Invention_?"

"Yes sir," Tex nodded and walked towards Hawaii, who gave her a heart-stopping smile. As the pair walked off together, Wash watched them go with a deadly glare on his face. York went to go and say something to him before he was restrained by Maine. The mute Freelancer shook his head once and steered York away from his friend once the Director had dismissed them.

* * *

At lunch, Wash collected his tray and sat down at the far table, not feeling like talking to anyone. All he had heard was 'Hawaii this' and 'Hawaii that' and once even 'Hawaii and Texas make a great couple, don't ya think so?' Unfortunately for the speaker, Wash didn't think so and punched the poor marine in the face. Hearing laughter, he looked up at scowled. Hawaii was walking towards him. Setting his tray down opposite the grey and yellow Freelancer, he slipped into the chair.

"Hello Wash," he smiled.

"Washington," Wash corrected. "Only my _friends _call me Wash." He wanted to rip that smile off of that bastard's face. Recently, he hadn't thought that he would get more annoyed with someone than he was with Carolina but he was mistaken.

"Well I hope that you and I will become friends," Hawaii smiled again.

"What training matches have you had today?" Wash asked, more out of politeness than interest.

"Close quarters combat with Carolina, weapons training with Maine…oh, and a droll little exercise called Last Man standing with Wyoming, South and Tex."

"Oh?" Wash stared down at his plate, struggling to control the jealousy that rose up within him. "And what's your opinion on the other agents?"

"Wyoming is a handful," Hawaii laughed. "Maine is anti-social, York is amusing, North is protective (in a good way), South is cranky, Carolina is determined to always be the best and lets that blind her from her completing her objective, Florida is friendly and Tex…" he became thoughtful for a moment. "Tex is quite a woman. She's unique. Only certain people could handle a woman like her." He smiled to himself and Wash once again resisted the urge to rip him to pieces.

"Yes," he tried to keep his voice level. "She is. And I suppose that _you're _one of the few people that can handle her?" Hawaii smirked.

"Naturally, Washington. Now tell me more about her. I want to know everything before I make a move on her. Oh yes, I was always going to," he smiled at Wash's look of shock.

"You want to know everything about her?" Wash growled. "Well, she's the best Freelancer in the project. Her AI is Omega. She gets on well with everybody except Carolina. The Director's sweet on her but she doesn't feel the same way towards him. Oh, and the most important part? She's _**MY **_girlfriend!" And with that, he slammed his cup down on the table, causing it to spill onto Hawaii, and stormed out the room.

* * *

Tex hummed to herself as she loaded her battle rifle, ready for training with North. Omega appeared next to her as she inserted the bullets.

"Hey Omega," she said absently. Her AI folded his arms and scowled.

"You haven't forgotten what we talked about, Agent Texas?" he asked.

"Of course not," Tex sighed. "Why else would I have pummelled Wyoming's balls so hard in Last Man Standing today?"

"Wyoming isn't the one you should be focusing your anger on," Omega reminded her. "_He's _not the one who could destroy your relationship with Washington."

"I know," Tex lowered her battle rifle and pulled her helmet on. "But I don't have any training with Carolina today so it'll just have to wait."

"Fuck," the AI swore. Tex laughed; it reminded her of a child sulking when they weren't allowed an ice cream. Omega scowled more at this and this subsequently made Tex laugh more.

"I get it," he protested. "Tex? Texas? Agent Texas? _Allison_!" This made Tex stop abruptly.

"What's with the full name," she asked in mock irritated tone. Omega shrugged.

"What's your opinion on the new agent?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Agent Hawaii?" Omega considered for a moment. "He's cocky," he said eventually. "Thinks he knows all and can have what he wants just because he has looks and charm."

"C'mon Omega, you're just being paranoid," Tex brushed it off. "He's harmless really. He'll settle down and learn how things work around here soon enough."

"_Not _soon enough," Omega scowled. "You didn't see him ogling your ass in Last Man Standing today." Tex blushed before composing herself.

"Well he can't do anything to me," she said, ending the conversation. "'Cos I have you and Wash and you two have got me."

* * *

Wash stormed into his room and slammed the door behind him.

"That arrogant bastard, wanker, son of a bitch, dickhead, prick, fucktard and asshole!" he swore viciously. "Wanting to make a move on _my _girlfriend! Well, I am going to make his life at Project Freelancer _very _hard!" He yanked his helmet off and threw it at the wall. He then flung himself onto his bed and began to savagely punch the pillow, imagining it was Hawaii's face. After forty minutes he dropped down onto the mattress, exhausted. However he could not stop thinking about Hawaii's words; _I want to know everything before I make a move on her. Oh yes, I was always going to_. Wash's hands slowly clenched into fists.

"That," he growled. "Was the biggest mistake ever. Of all time


	7. Chapter 7

Surprises

**A.N. Just to clarify the times of this story, Findings takes place two weeks after Feelings and this story takes place three weeks after New Faces. In that time, Tex and Wash have been…busy. I shall say no more!**

* * *

Tex staggered out the bathroom and collapsed on her bed. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling with a huge groan, ignoring F.I.L.S.S.'s chirping that she needed to go to the mess hall for breakfast and then to a briefing with the Director and the other Freelancers. She groaned again and sat up. Omega appeared next to her.

"It was positive?" he asked hoarsely. Tex nodded in conformation. Omega hissed slightly before speaking again.

"You have to go downstairs," he said briskly. "Act normal. That way, the others won't suspect that something's wrong."

"Can't I play being sick?" Tex groaned. Omega shook his head.

"The Director will send a medical team to check on you and then they'd definitely find out."

"What about if I protest that I'm on my period?" Tex tried again.

"How long will that ruse last?" Omega snapped. "It only lasts a week and you need longer than that." Tex sighed, then winced and clutched her belly.

"It'll have to do for now," she moaned and forced herself out of bed, out her room and down the corridor. Omega nodded once and logged off. Tex pulled her helmet on and checked her schedule. After breakfast, she had the briefing, training sessions with Florida, York, one of her choice and _(shit) _Carolina. Florida and York she could persuade to go easy on her but Carolina was a different matter. As she walked towards the mess hall, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Whirling around, she came face to face with Hawaii.

"Hello Tex," he said silkily. "What a fine day it is today, hmm? Would you like me to escort you to the mess hall?" Tex backed up against the wall. Hawaii was nice enough, and he was a decent agent, but something about him made her uneasy.

"I'll be fine, thanks Hawaii," she muttered and went to push past him but his arm blocked her.

"But I insist," his voice was smooth, perhaps too smooth. "And afterwards, how's about we stop by my quarters? Just you and me…"

"Omega?" Tex whispered. Her AI appeared with his arms folded about an inch away from Hawaii's helmet.

"Agent Texas said no," he growled. "And I do not mind saying that if you _ever _implicate something like that again, you will go to bed all safe and sound, but in the night, you will have the most terrible nightmares. Understandable, seeing as your brain will be bleeding internally and it will slowly be shrinking and you will be consumed in pain until it gets to a point where it can't control your organs anymore and they inflate to a point where they explode. You are still alive while all this is going on." Tex took the opportunity to push past Hawaii.

"He's serious you know," she called over her shoulder.

* * *

Wash frowned slightly beneath his helmet during the Director's briefing. It had been half an hour and he had noticed that Tex kept frequently rubbing her belly and seemed distracted. After the Director had dismissed them, he pushed through some of the lower ranking agents to get to her.

"Hey," he said as he fell into step alongside her.

"What? Oh, hey Wash," she muttered. Slowly, she reached out and held his hand tenderly and he gently clasped his fingers around hers.

"Are you ok?" he asked. "Cos you seemed distracted earlier and you kept rubbing your belly."

"Oh, that," she looked away. "That's just…female stuff. You wouldn't understand."

"Wouldn't I?" Wash teased her. "C'mon, you can tell me anything." Tex laughed softly.

"Ok, Mr Inquisitive. If you must know, it's _that _time of the month for me."

"Ohhh."

"Yep. Now I gotta go; I've got a training match with Florida," she pulled first his, then her helmet off and kissed him quickly before pulling her helmet back on and hurrying off.

_You've done well for yourself there, Wash _a growl came from behind him.

"Hey Maine," he turned and grinned at his friend. "How's it hangin'?"

_I've got an own choice training session at the same time as Tex so knowing her it'll be Last Man Standing. My balls are safe but I fear for the rest of my body _Maine growled as he went to stand next to Wash.

"Yeah, she's like that," Wash said happily. His expression suddenly turned serious. "What's your opinion on Hawaii?"

_He's a bit of a knob, not gonna lie _Maine growled breezily. _And he's very full of himself. He doesn't seem to have learnt to respect the higher ranking agents. Most annoying of all, most of the female agents seem to be madly in love with him._

"I agree," Wash growled. "And he seems to be concentrating his affections on only one of the female agents," he muttered, more to himself than Maine. The big Freelancer heard anyway.

_What? What do you mean concentrating all of his affec-whoa. _His jaw dropped. _Not Tex? _he growled softly.

"Yeah," Wash turned away with his shoulders slumped. "He literally told me himself, on the first day, that he was going to 'make a move on her'."

_Well, _Maine chuckled. _He's going to get a nasty surprise. Don't worry about it. _He patted his friend's shoulder. _Tex's heart belongs to only you. She told me so herself._

* * *

Wash picked up his tray at lunch time and walked over to where Maine, Wyoming, North, York and South were sitting.

"Hey guys," he called cheerfully. "How was training today?" he sat down next to South.

"Shit," she said venomously. "Hawaii totally cheated today, but did the Director notice? NO! Fuck him! Fuck them all!" she slammed her fist down on the table. The male Freelancers watched her warily before turning to one another.

"I got another black eye today," North said wistfully. "Carolina was in one of her _moods _today." They all looked over to where the teal Freelancer was sitting. She was talking to Florida (who was his usual calm self) and she looked incredibly angry. All the other agents winced. Wash felt a body slide into the seat next to him. He turned to see Tex.

"Hey," he said. The other Freelancers nodded in greeting. South just scowled.

"Hi," Tex said quietly. She picked up her cup (the only thing she had bought with her) and took a small sip, shuddering slightly as she swallowed.

"What's wrong with _you_?" South snapped. Tex merely gave her a knowing look.

"You know," she said. South nodded once in understanding. The others began talking about their training sessions and how their bruises were sore. Tex was silent and Wash held her hand in comfort.

"Hello Tex," a different, yet all too familiar voice chimed suddenly. The agents looked up and turned around to see Hawaii standing there.

"May I repeat my offer that I gave this morning?" he asked sweetly. "About my quarters? Just me and you?" Wash's fists clenched. God, he _hated _that bastard. Tex gave him a warning look before standing up herself.

"The answer's still no, Hawaii," she said coldly. The other agent leant forwards.

"I don't understand you Texas," he simpered. "You are the best agent in the project, could take your choice of any man here, turn _me _down and instead go for one of the worst fighters here." Wash blushed scarlet and lowered his head. He could sense the glare that the other agents were giving Hawaii but the asshole wouldn't back down. What he wasn't expecting was the pure anger in Tex's voice when she spoke next.

"It's _my _choice Hawaii!" she snarled. "And nothing you say can influence that."

"But still," he persisted. "Why not me? I can give you everything you ever wanted." Tex was well aware that every agent in the project was watching her but at that moment she couldn't care. If it was going to come out, it might as well come out in style.

"Because _you're _not the father of my unborn child!"


	8. Chapter 8

Jealousy

"Agent Texas, you have a hell of a lot of explaining to do!" the Director banged his fist down on the table. Tex stood in front of him impassively with her hands held behind her. Behind the Director, Carolina was smirking and the Counsellor was looking quite anxious.

_This'll show her _Carolina thought smugly to herself. _This'll show Texas why I should be number 1, not her. The Director will punish her so badly, I'll be number 1 again before you can say 'you don't wanna end up like Georgia'!_

"Agent Texas," the Director continued. "Is what I am hearing true? Are you pregnant?" Inside, he wished reverently for her to deny it, for her to scotch the rumours that she was in a relationship, for her to become what Allison was to him all those years ago.

"Yes," Tex said calmly. The Director felt his heart being crushed once again.

_Oh Allison _he thought sadly. _Why did it have to be true? When I find the man who did this…_

"I see," he said aloud, in a much calmer voice to what he was feeling. "And who's the father?" Tex cocked her head quizzically and looked at him.

"_He doesn't know!" _Omega hissed inside her head._ "Make something up! Throw him off Washington's trail."_

"The Counsellor," Tex said. The man in question jumped about five feet in the air.

"What? No, Director it isn't true! I swear it!"

"Shut up Counsellor," the Director said wearily. He turned to Carolina. "Agent Carolina, who is the real father?" Carolina smirked at Tex for a second before turning back to the Director.

"Agent Washington, sir," she simpered. Tex hissed quietly and Omega began to growl.

"Washington?" the Director stared at Tex in amazement. "Why, out of all the agents in the Project would you go for _Washington_?"

"Why not?" Tex replied coldly.

"_Yes!" _Omega whispered. _"Show him who's in charge!"_

"I can be with who I want to be with," Tex continued. "Only I get to choose that and no one else." She glared at the trio who stood before her.

"F.I.L.S.S.," the Director said calmly. "Send Washington up here immediately."

* * *

Wash stared down at the table, almost completely ignoring what was going on around him. He heard people calling his name in the distance but he ignored it. All he could do was replay what had just happened over and over in his head.

"_Because _you're_ not the father of my unborn child!" Tex yelled at Hawaii. Instantly the whole room fell silent with every agent in the project staring at their table. Hawaii took a step back, his face ashen. Wash dipped his head. No matter what people would twist Tex's words into, it couldn't change the huge meaning behind them._

_Wash was going to be a father._

"_Who…who's the father?" Hawaii managed to regain his voice._

"_That's nothing to do with you," Tex replied coldly but by now, all the other agents had put two and two together._

"_Wash?" York asked his friend tentatively._

"_No way," South breathed. Delta appeared._

"_Agent South, the brief diagnostic I have run on Agent Texas has confirmed that she is pregnant and that Agent Washington is the father," he said in his business like voice. Omega appeared next to Tex._

"_Shut the fuck up Delta," he said in annoyance. Delta frowned and was about to remind Omega about protocol before he complied, with a warning look from York. Hawaii staggered backwards, right into Maine. The mute Freelancer gave an evil grin as he surveyed his latest victim._

You and I are going to have a lot of fun _he growled. Hawaii gulped as he was led away. Tex slowly sat down again. She buried her face in Wash's shoulder as he put his arm round her. While all this was going on, none of them had noticed Carolina sneaking out of the mess hall. Within a few minutes, F.I.L.S.S.'s voice chimed over the tannoy system._

"_Agent Texas, please report to the bridge immediately. Thank you." Tex sighed and got up from the table. Wash was forced to let her go. Once she had left, all the questions began buzzing around the room like flies. Wash ignored them all and held his head in his hands._

"Wash? Wash! Washington!" he was stirred from his thoughts by South snapping his name.

"What?"

"We've been trying to talk to you for the last five minutes!" South folded her arms. Behind her, North, York, Wyoming and Maine (but no sign of Hawaii) were looking at him seriously. Wash sighed.

"I don't wanna talk," he mumbled.

"You know, mate, talking about things makes them a bit bloody easier," Wyoming pointed out in his British accent. Wash scowled.

"Wash," North said in his calm voice. "Wyoming's right."

"Fine," Wash threw his hands up in surrender. "What do you wanna talk about?"

"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me!" South snapped.

"Isn't it obvious, Wash?" York rolled his eye. "Have you had your head stuck in the sand for the past fifteen minutes?"

"Wrong choice of words!" Wash protested.

"Agent Washington, is it true that you're going out with Agent Texas?" Theta's timid voice broke into their argument. Something about this made them all calm down.

"Yes Theta," Wash mumbled. "It's true." Theta regarded him with innocent, childlike eyes.

"And is she really going to have your baby?"

"Yes."

"The Director won't let you keep it, you do know that Wash?" North said gently. Wash averted his eyes.

"I know. But if I can, I'm going to do everything in my power to keep it."

"Agent Washington, please report to the bridge," F.I.L.S.S. chirped suddenly.

"Aw shit," Wash groaned.

"Looks like you may get your wish," York said dryly.

* * *

"This is absurd!" the Director glared at the two agents standing before him. "Agent Washington, you disobeyed the rules that clearly state that no two agents may be in a relationship! And Agent Texas," his voice softened slightly. "You have also disobeyed the rules that state that no female agent may have a child." Tex's eyes narrowed.

"You can't stop me!" she hissed.

"Uh, yeah, what she said!" Wash retorted.

_Oh Allison, _the Director thought sadly. _Why must this be so difficult? All I want is for us to be together._

"There are only two options," he cut off his agents' protests. "Abortion…"

"NO!" Tex snarled and Wash clenched his fists. He looked like he wanted to grind them into the side of the wall (or even better, Carolina's face).

"This is my child!" Tex continued and Omega appeared next to her to back her up. Wash was relieved; he knew that he wasn't doing a great job at all. "I can choose what to do with it! Not. You."

"…or," the Director continued calmly. "Adoption."

"Neither!" Wash said vehemently. The Director scowled.

"My mind is made up! Abortion or adoption! That is the only choice that you two get in the matter!" he snapped.

"Well choose _this_!" Wash snapped and pulled Tex close and pressed his lips to hers. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Director give them a look as if he had just been slapped in the face and he heard Omega chuckle. He closed his eyes and put all his love into the kiss. He placed his hand on Tex's back and felt a shiver of delight as her body curved into his. Eventually, they pulled away. Wash gave the Director a mock salute and the two agents stalked out the bridge, hand in hand.

"We're totally gonna pay for that," Wash muttered when they were halfway down the corridor.

"It doesn't matter," Tex whispered and pulled him close again. Meanwhile, the Director sat down and started dejectedly at Wash and Tex's helmets, which they had forgotten, that were placed side by side. His shoulders slumped.

"Allison…"


	9. Chapter 9

Missions

Everyone in the corridor heard Tex being sick that night. Carolina smiled to herself as she heard her rival running to the bathroom for the fourth time.

"Isn't this great?" she asked South happily. She had a slipper thrown at her head in retaliation.

"Everything has to be about you, doesn't it Carolina?" South snapped. "Texas is pregnant with Wash's child, and all you care about is being better than everyone because your head is so far up your arse." Since the new of Tex's pregnancy had broken, South had been a lot less moody towards her. However, the same could not be said for Carolina.

"Well South, I…" Carolina was prevented from completing her sentence by another slipper (which South had poured water on) hitting her head. Wash was also restless that night as he fought the urge to run out of bed and got to Tex. Maine, however had advised against it.

_You can't do anything to help her Wash; this is just a natural stage in pregnancy. The best thing to do is to go to sleep and support her in the morning. _However, when he heard Tex being sick for the seventh time, he just couldn't help it. Creeping out the bedroom, he ran along the corridor to the bathroom, just as Tex was staggering out of it. She gave him a weak smile and he clasped his arms around her. Leading her back to her room, he opened the door for her and helped her get into bed. After a moment of hesitation, he shut the door and climbed in with her. She curled up againsthim and he stroked her long black hair that fell across her face. Her breathing became steady and she dropped off to sleep. Wash slowly moved his hands down to where the baby, _his _baby, was. He felt his stomach squirm with excitement as he felt a tiny, almost unnoticeable kick. He brought his hands back up to Tex's face and tucked her hair behind her ear. Resting his head on her shoulder, he closed his eyes.

* * *

Tex groaned and her eyes fluttered open. She moved her hand down to where the baby was and massaged the area, as it was still very sore. Feeling a pressure on her shoulder, she looked over to see Wash still lying beside her. Sighing in contentment, she leaned over and lightly pressed her lips to his. After a few seconds, his eyes opened and he began kissing back. They stayed like this for about 10 minutes until F.I.L.S.S. reported the day's schedule over the radio. Wash and Tex groaned and pulled apart. They both got out of Tex's bed and said their goodbyes; Wash headed out the door to his own room and Tex walked into the bathroom. After breakfast, the top 8 agents reported for a meeting with the Director.

"Agents," he began. "We have received intel that the Resistance have managed to obtain something that is vital to our cause. We don't have much information about it but we know that in the wrong hands, it could be disastrous for all of us. There will be no Team A or Team B. Instead, you will all be going in as one big team."

"The object in question is spherical," the Counsellor said in his calm voice. "And it has these markings engraved on it." He typed some commands into his data pad and some symbols that looked similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics.

"Your objective is to obtain this object," the Director finished. "And destroy any opposition. That includes Connecticut. Any questions?" Carolina raised her hand.

"Who will be team leader, sir?"

"Carolina," the Director sounded slightly irritated. "As you fully well know, the number 1 always leads the missions. Anything else?" Everyone else remained silent and Carolina's lips twisted with fury and jealousy.

"Good. Dismissed. Four Seven Niner is waiting in Bay 221B," the Director waved his hand.

* * *

Four Seven Niner powered up the Pelican and waited for the bridge officers to open the bay doors. When they did, she ignited the thrusters and the Pelican blasted into space, towards the planet the Counsellor had called 'Beta Hexagonal' where the objective lay. Inside the aircraft, Tex winced slightly at the jolty take off and rubbed her belly. Wash, who was sitting next to her reached over and gently placed his hand over hers. In response, Tex leaned against him and rested her head against his shoulder.

"Are we there yet?" South demanded. Four Seven Niner shot her an irritated look.

"We've only just taken off," she snapped. "I know you're not a trained pilot South, but surely even you can realise that we can't get to a whole planet in the space of thirty seconds."

"Fuck you!" South retaliated.

"So immature," Four Seven Niner muttered and turned back to flying the plane.

"I heard that!"

"Yep, that's cause I said it loud enough for you to hear."

"You bitch!"

* * *

In the hour and twenty minutes it took for the agents to get to Beta Hexagonal, Carolina wouldn't stop bitching, South threw a gravity hammer at her (it missed because North grabbed her arm at the last minute), Wyoming told infuriating knock knock jokes, Maine got so annoyed he smashed a seat from the wall causing Four Seven Niner to scream swear words at him, York fell flat on his face when they encountered some turbulence, North had to calm his sister down when she started screaming as they went through said turbulence, Wash trying to lighten the mood but failing, when Carolina began insulting him, Tex punched her in the face, breaking her nose and knocking her our for the rest of the journey and Omega issuing death threats to whoever pissed him off, except Wash and Tex. When the Pelican finally landed in a clearing, concealed by trees, they were almost ready to kill each other. Fortunately, arriving sobered them all up and they walked towards the buildings in the distance. The walk took half an hour, but the only thing that happened was Carolina falling into a ditch **(A.N. A better phrasing would be being pushed into a ditch by Wash)** and the others refusing point blank to help her out.

"Right," Tex said as they reached the target building. "Has everyone got enough ammo?" The others nodded. Carolina just folded her arms and scowled before giving a sudden yelp as South accidentally on purpose trod on her foot.

"Ok. Let's get the object without attracting too much attention to ourselves and return to the _Mother of Invention_. Let's go." The other agents ran inside. Wash remained outside for a moment and put his hand on Tex's arm.

"You up for this?" he asked quietly. Tex loaded her battle rifle.

"CT isn't going to escape again," she answered and ran indoors. Wash grimaced; he remembered too well how CT had evaded capture the last time they had her cornered at Longshore Shipyards. Tex had been about to deliver a blow to her, which would have rendered her unconscious, before Carolina stepped in front of her and began ranting about how _she _should do it, how _she _was the real number 1, blah blah blah. CT had managed to escape with the Leader of the Insurrection to god knows where while the top two Freelancers were distracted. Fair to say, the Director was _not _pleased. Wash sighed quietly to himself before running after the others.

* * *

"Clear!" North announced, looking into one room.

"Clear!" York repeated, emerging from his room. South, Wyoming, Maine and Carolina reported the same. They had found nothing in any of the rooms, except a pair of guards looking over the balcony and discussing why they were there. They never found out, however, as one was stabbed in the head with Maine's Bruteshot and the other wound up with a sniper bullet in his brain.

"This is like we're in a police hunt," Wash mused as he found nothing in his room either. The others ignored him.

"We would have found the objective by now if _I _was in charge," Carolina whined. Everyone ignored her too.

"No we wouldn't," Tex's voice came from her room. "Because you don't have an AI to hack into these computers and locate the objective." The other Freelancers entered and saw Tex bending over a series of computer screens. Omega appeared next to her, looking satisfied.

"The objective has been located on the 50th floor, in the room northwest of the elevator," he informed the other Freelancers.

"Excellent," Tex straightened up and winced, rubbing her belly.

"Tex? Are you ok?" North asked tentatively.

"I'm fine," she snapped. "The sooner we get the objective and get out of here, the better."

* * *

As luck (or rather, bad luck) goes, the room was full of guards. The two standing at the door were killed silently by Maine picking them both up and breaking their necks. York took off his helmet and peered through the small gap with his one good eye.

"They're all standing around the objective," he informed the others. "I think I heard one of them call it the 'Ontarian' or something like that."

"This isn't going to make our job easy," Wash commented.

"Thanks Captain Obvious," Carolina snapped. Tex hit her.

"May I suggest a decoy operation?" Delta appeared next to York. "If one of you causes a distraction, while the Insurrectionists' attention is drawn away, the rest of you can retrieve the objective."

"That's a stupid plan," Carolina scoffed.

"Oh I don't know," Tex said mildly. "We could always have Maine drop you off the top of the building and see if that draws their attention." Carolina turned scarlet and began spluttering but chose to remain silent.

* * *

"This is a really bad idea," York groaned to North as the two looked over at the balcony below them. The plan was simple; they distracted the Insurrectionists while the others retrieved the objective. In the building across from them, Maine and Wyoming would further distract them so the others could sneak away unnoticed.

"Well, it's now or never," North replied as he received the go ahead from Tex. "Hey assholes!" he yelled down.

"We're up here you dipshits!" York joined in. "We've decided to tell you this because you're too dumb to figure it out for yourselves!" That had the desired effect. All the Insurrectionists ran out onto the balcony below them and glared up. While all this was going on, Tex, Carolina, South and Wash entered the room silently. Carolina activated her camouflage ability and stood alongside the Insurrectionists. South and Wash hid behind some pillars with their guns trained on the door, in case anyone tried to enter through it, and Tex activated her cloaking and crept up to the Ontarian. Fortunately, it was much smaller that the Sarcophagus and could fit into her hand. Disengaging her active camo., she nodded two the others. Understanding at once, they snuck out the room again. Tex commed Maine and Wyoming.

"It's your turn now. We'll meet you outside. Better do it soon seeing as York and North are making complete fools of themselves." The duo had started singing and 'Ode to Dumbasses'.

"Understood," Wyoming replied. He turned off his comm. and turned to Maine.

"It's our turn now, old chap." Maine growled in agreement, and the two began to toss much more dignified insults. York and North sighed in relief and hurried down the stairs to meet the others.

"What was that about?" Wash asked as they fled the building.

"We had to improvise!" York snapped. Meanwhile, the Insurrectionist soldiers had activated their jetpacks and were flying towards Wyoming and Maine.

"Gamma, broadcast a jamming frequency," the British Freelancer said calmly. The Insurrectionists screamed as their jetpacks spluttered to a halt and they fell out of the sky.

"Hmm," Wash mused as he skirted around one. "'It's raining Insurrectionists' doesn't really have the same ring to it."

"Shut up Wash," South snapped. A few minutes later, Wyoming and Maine joined them.

"Well all the Insurrectionists there are out for the count," Wyoming informed them. "But unfortunately, neither CT nor the Leader was there."

"Fuck!" Carolina kicked a dustbin over.

"No matter," Tex said shortly. "We completed our objective. Now let's get this fucking thing back to the Director."

* * *

Four Seven Niner took off and flew over the city. Just for good measure, she bombed the building where the Insurrectionists had been before taking off back to the _Mother of Invention_. Inside the Pelican, the agents sat in silence, with Tex resting her head on Wash's shoulder again, until York broke it.

"What does that thing actually do?" he pointed at the Ontarian. The rest of the agents shrugged.

"The Director just said that it's vital to our course," North said thoughtfully.

"I bet he'll tell _me_," Carolina said smugly. "I am the number 2 after all and one of the most loyal and one of the best Freelancers in the project."

"Maybe we should have let Maine drop you off that building after all," South interrupted. Carolina scowled. Maine looked pleased.


	10. Chapter 10

Forced Revelations

**A.N. This takes place a couple of months later so Tex is well into her pregnancy. In terms of placing it in the timeline of the canon, it takes place after Tex and Carolina's match that went wrong thanks to the Director agitating the AIs and after Carolina has woken up from her coma, but before Wash has his AI implantation. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Tex kicked the punching bag in half and watched as it scattered its contents across the training room floor. Sitting down gingerly, she did nothing until F.I.L.S.S. dismissed her so she could return to her room and change out of her armour. Once she had done so, she sighed and lay down on her bed, trying to quell the sick feeling that rose within her. For a moment, she stared into space, before her attention was brought back to Earth as the baby within her gave a small kick. Massaging her stomach the way she had for the past 5 months (12 clockwise, 18 anti-clockwise), she sighed again and lay her head down on her pillow. A soft knock at the door forced her to raise it again and call that whoever it was could come in. North slipped in and shut the door behind him.

"Hey, North," Tex lowered her head and closed her eyes again.

"Hi Tex," North stood by her bed. "I just thought I'd let you know that Wash is having an argument with the Director."

"What?!" Tex sat up quickly and instantly regretted it. "Shit!" she hissed as she lowered herselfback down again, rubbing her bump furiously.

"Uh, yeah," North looked at her in concern. "It's about his AI implantation. The Director wants him to have it tomorrow but Wash is arguing that he should have it once the baby's been born."

"I still can't believe that they're implanting after what happened at the match," Tex closed her eyes and winced as she remembered Omega's voice shrieking 'Allison!' inside her head. North winced as well, undoubtedly remembering his own experience with Theta.

"They've managed to obtain more fragments more quickly since we got the Ontarian for them," he said. "But at least I managed to talk South out of petitioning to get one of Carolina's AIs."

"How _did _you manage to do that?" Tex opened her eyes.

"Oh, I merely reminded her that she would be getting, essentially, a second hand AI and that its previous owner was Carolina," North shrugged.

"Smooth," Tex complimented him, opening her eyes again. "But back to Wash's implant. Do you think the Director will let him push it back further?"

"The last I heard, Wash had summoned Maine to back him up," North grinned as he thought of the Director facing the biggest, strongest and scariest agent in the project with only the Counsellor and some marines to back him up. Tex smiled too and then grimaced as her stomach squirmed again. North looked over at her in concern and walked to the door.

"I'd better go," he said. "Hope you feel better soon."

"Thanks North," Tex murmured and closed her eyes again. Omega appeared next to her, as if to say something before deciding against it.

* * *

Later that night, the Director walked silently down the corridor, looking at the name tags on the doors until he came to Tex's room. Opening the door quietly, he peered in and his heart fell as he saw her sleeping with Washington. The agents' hands were intertwined and their heads were resting next to each other on the pillow. The Director scowled and his fists clenched. In his eyes, Wash had stolen Allison away from him and had driven her emotions against him with the baby inside her. He was determined that he wasn't going to lose her again and he walked over to the sleeping agents. Pulling the duvet back slightly, so Tex's bare shoulder was revealed, he raised the syringe he had brought with him which would kill the baby inside of Tex and therefore, cause the abortion. However, before he got a chance, a low growl came from behind him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a silver light, slightly tinged with purple and groaned as he realised who it was.

"Omega, shouldn't you be asleep?" he asked quietly.

"I could say the same for you, _Director_," the AI's lips curled beneath his helmet.

"I was merely ensuring the prosperity of the project," the Director said calmly. "An infant would cause severe hindrances to our progress." Omega laughed coldly.

"Is it really about the project or do you just want to try and get the nearest thing to your girlfriend back?"

"I…" the Director turned pale and slowly backed away from the agents.

"Texas' heart will never belong to you," Omega continued, his voice cold. "In her list of who she cares about, you aren't even on there. Obviously Washington is top, but then it's me, the baby and all her friends in the project (that doesn't include Carolina)."

"Omega! How dare you speak to me in this way!" the Director hissed. "I created you! I gave you to Agent Texas!"

"You don't control me," the AI growled. "You don't control Texas, or Washington, or Maine, or North Dakota or any other agent in this project and you _especially _don't control their feelings." With as much dignity as he could muster, the Director stalked out the room and shut the door behind him. Once outside, he buried his face in his hands because he knew fully well, that Omega was right.

* * *

In the morning, Omega related the whole story to Tex and Wash and, fair to say, they were not happy about it.

"Good God, he tried to murder our fucking baby!" Wash punched the wall. Tex put her hands on his arm and slowly lowered it.

"Well it seems that he's going to force us to have it adopted," she said softly. Wash looked at her and stroked her hair back from her face before pulling her close into a kiss.

"Looks like it," he replied as they pulled away. "And I doubt that he's going to let us keep in touch with it."

"Her," Omega corrected, appearing next to Tex. "From the daily diagnostic I run on the baby, I have managed to discover that the baby had developed enough for the gender to be revealed. It's a girl." Tex smiled and wrapped her arms around Wash. He put one of his own arms around her shoulders and with the other, he gently rubbed her bump.

"It's a shame that she may never get to know her parents," he murmured sadly. Tex nodded and rested her head on his chest.

"Why not inform her but don't let the Director know?" a sudden idea came to Omega. The two agents looked at him, perplexed.

"Omega, when we'll have to give her up, she'll be too young to understand and I doubt that the Director would be too happy if he found out," Tex sighed.

"He won't. He's not such a heartless bastard that he won't let you leave your baby one thing," Omega began to pace. "So you leave her, oh I don't know, a Magnum or something, with two things carved on it."

"What two things?" Wash frowned.

"Two states that happen to share their names with a certain two agents…" Omega hinted. Slowly smiles formed on Tex and Wash's faces and they both looked down at where their baby girl was slowly forming.

"That," Wash said slowly. "Is the best idea ever. Of all time."


	11. Chapter 11

Rejections

"Agent Maine, put the table down!" the Director barked before ducking once again as Maine threw said table at his head. It hit yet another bridge officer. Maine growled viciously and Sigma translated for the benefit of the others in the room.

"Agent Maine says that Washington has to have his AI implantation postponed until his and Texas' baby is born. It _will_ be born because abortion is completely out of the question," he said silkily.

"Absolutely not!" the Director snapped, daring to poke his head up again. "That infant will only cause our progress to be hindered and…_Agent Maine, put that car down!_" Maine ignored the Director's protests and threw the Warthog at him, hitting some more marines and bridge officers and a lower-ranking agent, possibly Arizona. He growled again and loaded his Bruteshot.

"Agent Maine says that you don't have an option," Sigma translated, his voice smooth. "Texas and Washington's baby will be allowed to live and there will be no more talk of abortion."

"Agent Maine," the Director began angrily, but changed his mind when Maine aimed the Bruteshot at him. The big Freelancer growled once and stalked out of the bridge. The Director and the Counsellor got shakily to their feet.

"Where do you suppose he got all those things to throw at us?" the Counsellor mused.

"Shut up Counsellor," the Director said wearily.

* * *

Wash was waiting in the corridor for Maine when his friend had finished in the bridge. When Maine walked out, Wash hurried up to him.

"So how'd it go?" he asked.

_I highly doubt that the Director is going to try and either kill your baby or force you and Tex to have an abortion again _Maine growled in satisfaction. Wash sighed in relief.

"Thanks buddy. I owe you one," he patted his friend's shoulder and hurried off down the corridor, probably in search of Tex.

_No problem _a slow smile spread on Maine's face as he looked back at the pile of things he and Wash had dragged from the loading bays in case he had needed to 'persuade' the Director. _You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that for._

* * *

Tex and South were standing in the observation room watching North, York and Wyoming training. Tex had stopped wearing her armour altogether and was instead wearing a close fitting, fabric suit (which expanded, thankfully), similar to the ones that the Director and the Counsellor wore. South was still in her armour but she had removed her helmet. The two female Freelancers were commenting on how the males could improve their technique when the door opened and Carolina strode in.

"Oh fuck," South said, not too loud but loud enough so that Carolina could hear her.

"_Someone's _touchy today," she simpered. "What's the matter South? Still bitter that you don't have an AI?"

"Well I _would _have one by now if _someone_ hadn't stolen mine!" South snarled. Carolina rolled her eyes and Eta and Iota appeared next to her with their arms folded. The two AIs hadn't said anything to anyone aloud so far but Carolina insisted that they talked to her in her head.

"At least I could handle an AI better than you," South continued spitefully. "Can't go half an hour with them implanted before collapsing and going into a coma?" Carolina turned puce.

"You don't know what I went through!" she snarled. "No person in this room understands what I went through when they started screaming."

"I do," Tex said mildly. "You're not the only one with an AI, Carolina." As if to prove her point, Omega appeared behind Eta and Iota and whacked their heads together. He chuckled darkly as they squealed in protest and appeared next to Tex again. Carolina's eyes narrowed.

"Why are you two hanging out anyway?" she demanded. "You've never liked each other before."

"We still don't," South said, almost cheerfully. "But a bit of rivalry can be put on hold when there's a baby due in four months." In response, the baby kicked out inside Tex's womb, causing her bump to move a little.

"Thanks South," she muttered. "Really, I mean that."

* * *

Tex walked down the corridor; she had left the observation room when Carolina and South had bickered for so long she was starting to get a headache. They had then flung themselves at each other and began trying to kill each other (at least, that's what it looked like). Florida and some marines had tried to break them up and were now in the medical room, nursing injuries. As she walked towards her room, she didn't notice Hawaii sneaking up behind her until he clamped his hand over her mouth and forced her up against the wall.

"What the fuck?" she protested into his hand.

"I still haven't given up, Texas," Hawaii crooned, moving his right leg up so it was resting on her leg. "I see this pregnancy," he ran a hand down her bump where the baby lay, oblivious to all that was going on around her. "As only a temporary set back in our relationship."

"There is no relationship between us!" Tex snarled into his hand.

"Hush," Hawaii whispered and leaned in, taking his hand away. As Tex took a gasp of air, he forced his lips onto hers, prompting a squeal of protest from the female Freelancer.

_Omega, do something! _she pleaded inside her head.

_Already on it _her AI said grimly. Hawaii's lips were pressed hard to hers. His tongue forced its way into her mouth and rubbed against her teeth. His hands caressed her body as she tried frantically to push him off her. It was so intense, and so…_wrong_. In her mind, Tex compared this hard, dominating kiss to Wash's soft, sweet kisses.

"What the fuck?!" a voice came from behind them and Hawaii pulled away, but still kept his body pressed close to Tex's. Wash was staring at them with a look of pure hurt and bewilderment on his face. As Hawaii was distracted, Tex rammed her knee into his balls, causing him to crouch down with an exclamation of pain, and punched him in the face, knocking him to the floor.

"Tex?" Wash sounded like he was on the verge of tears. Stepping over Hawaii, Tex walked towards Wash and flung her arms around him.

"He forced himself on me," she murmured quietly in his ear. "I had no knowledge of this." Wash gave a sigh of relief and embraced her back, stroking her hair that curled onto her shoulders. Hawaii made a sound of protest as their lips met and gave a squawk as Tex strode over to him and lifted him up by his throat.

"I will _never_," she hissed. "_Never _choose you. You're just some fucked up asshole who thinks that he can pick whichever woman he wants. Well here's some news for you, pal. It ain't gonna be me." She strode back over to Wash and their lips were pressed together once again. The two walked off, leaving Hawaii on his own…until he turned around and saw a very menacing shadow looming over him.

* * *

Wash moaned with pleasure as he caressed Tex's face with one hand and her bump with his other hand, their lips locked. The two were in Tex's bed and neither were wearing any armour or, well, anything. Tex's long, black hair fell onto his shoulders as she rested her hands on his chest and pulled him closer to her. The two agents eventually pulled away and just lay there, gazing into each other's eyes until Omega coughed to get their attention.

"I hate to break this up, but there are important matters that need discussing," he growled. Tex sighed and rolled onto her back and Wash propped himself up with his elbow.

"First off, what happened to Hawaii?" he asked. Omega smirked.

"I contacted Sigma and left Hawaii with Maine," he said.

"Ouch," Wash winced and Tex gave a dry chuckle.

"But anyway," Omega continued. "What are you two going to do with the baby when she's born? And what are you going to call her?"

"Wash?" Tex turned to him.

"Well, uh, when I was in Spain with my family several years ago, we saw a guy selling shotguns," Wash tucked a lock of Tex's hair behind her ear as he spoke. "He called them 'el escopetas'. What about that? Just without the 'el', that is."

"I like that," Tex said softly, rubbing her stomach. "Escopeta. Our baby girl."

"Creative," Omega said. "But now, the more serious matter; what will you do with her when she's born?"

"We could always get Maine to talk the Director out of adoption too?" Wash said hopefully.

"I doubt he'll allow that," Tex sighed. "And plus, he's essentially gunning for our baby. Maybe giving her up for adoption is the safest thing for her." Wash sighed and stroked the bump.

"Maybe it is," he murmured. "But who knows? Maybe the Director will relent? But there's still Omega's idea. You know, the whole little keepsake with the two states carved on it." Tex nodded.

"I think that we should wait until the baby's born before we make a decision on that one," she said. Wash nodded in agreement and lay down beside her again. Omega logged off, leaving Tex and Wash embracing and baby Escopeta enclosed between them.


	12. Chapter 12

Arrivals

**A.N. This story takes place 4 months later. In that time, C.T. has been killed, the Leader of the Insurrection has fled with her armour, some of the lower ranking agents who aren't on the leader board have had AI implantations and Carolina pissed Wash off so much, he pushed her in a lake when they were fighting the Insurrectionists.**

* * *

Carolina walked past Tex's room, paused and looked inside. It was the middle of the night and she had just got back from a meeting with the Director and the Counsellor about Eta and Iota. The sight that met her eyes caused the all-to-familiar wrench of jealousy that she always felt when she watched the highest ranking agent. Tex and Wash were sleeping together, as they had done ever since the news of Tex's pregnancy had broken. Wash's hand was resting on Tex's arm and his chest was pressed against her back. Tex's head was resting on his shoulder and she had one hand resting on his leg and the other hand lying on top of her bump. It had been roughly 9 months and the baby was due any time. Carolina scowled viciously and whirled around…only to come face to face with Omega yet again. The AI folded his arms and growled. Carolina staggered backwards before composing herself and running past him into her shared room with South. Omega smirked as he watched her go.

_Will she ever learn?_ he wondered to himself. It was unlikely.

* * *

The next morning, Tex was lying on her bed, reading a book and being incredibly bored. Because of her pregnancy, she had been dismissed from duty 'until further notice' were the Director's exact words. She sighed and gently rubbed her belly before gasping in pain as her stomach muscles contracted. Slowly, she waited for it to pass but it didn't. If anything, it seemed to be getting worse.

"Omega, what the fuck is going on?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"Diagnosis is unclear," Omega appeared next to her, frowning.

"Well that's just fucking great!" Tex snapped and leant back on her bed, breathing heavily. She swore again when her stomach gave a particularly painful twist. Snarling as she desperately tried to massage her stomach into behaving, she groaned as she realised what had to be happening.

"Shit."

* * *

Wash darted behind a pillar to dodge Wyoming's lockdown paint attack. Looking over at York, who nodded, he stuck his head out cautiously and frantically looked around for any sign of a sneak attack. Instead, he saw a blur of greenish-blue hurtling towards York so he took a deep breath, aimed and fired. Carolina smashed into a pillar at full speed before collapsing to the ground.

"Nice shot Wash!" York yelled. Wash grinned; he never got tired of reaping his revenge on Carolina.

"Oh bloody hell," Wyoming groaned to Gamma as he in turn hid behind a pillar to evade York's and Wash's relentless attacks. "It seems that Carolina is out for the count. This may hurt our chances, old chap."

"It would appear so," Gamma said in his distorted voice. "Time distortion would only slow down the attacks for a short while and Delta will be bound to counter it as fast as possible."

"Oh bollocks," Wyoming sighed. "Oh well, better go down with a fight." He had just started to counter-attack when F.I.L.S.S.'s voice chimed over the tannoy system.

"Agent Washington, please report to the medical bay immediately."

"What the-?" Wash muttered before lowering his gun. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw York do the same and the shots from Wyoming ceased as well. The three agents walked to the centre of the room and faced each other.

"Why am I being called to the medical bay?" Wash asked. "I'm not injured or anything." Wyoming frowned.

"I don't think that that's the reason you're being summoned, mate," he pointed out.

"I agree with Wyoming," York added. "I think that you're being called for someone else." Wash frowned for a second before his face cleared.

"Shit!" he gasped and ran at full pelt out the door.

"I think he figured it out," Wyoming said dryly.

"What?" York asked, his confusion genuine. "What's he figured out?" Wyoming rolled his eyes underneath his helmet.

"Isn't it obvious old chum? Who do we know who's going to be in medical need very soon?" York was still puzzled.

"We don't know anyone who's going to be in need of…oh," his eye widened. "Do you think that Tex is giving birth?" he gasped.

"Got there in the end mate," Wyoming said sarcastically and patted York's shoulder as he walked out the room.

* * *

Several hours later, North, South, Maine, Wyoming and York were waiting outside the doors to the medical bay. The medic they were talking to, however, was refusing to let them in.

"I'm sorry sirs and ma'am, but you can't enter without permission from the Director," he folded his arms.

"Like hell he's gonna let us in," York muttered to North. The purple Freelancer nodded and went up to the medic, who was currently dealing with South screaming threats, swear words and countless other things in his ear.

"Look," North said in his usual calm voice. "We're Wash and Tex's friends and we just want to see them and how everything went." Theta appeared next to North and looked pleadingly at the medic. However, the asshole wasn't going to give in easily.

"No entrance without permission from the Director," he snapped. "And that's my final word."

"Fine!" South threw her hands up in disgust and turned to the biggest member in their group. "Maine?" The big Freelancer growled and took a step towards the medic who began to visibly shake.

"I…uh…the answer's still no!" he said but not as bravely this time. Maine walked right up to him and picked him up by the throat. He growled and Sigma appeared next to him.

"Agent Maine says that we all want to go in and see Agent Washington, Agent Texas and their newborn child," he said silkily. "Of course, if you don't _want_ us to…" he added sinisterly. The other Freelancers nodded in agreement and Maine brought the medic up so they were almost eye-to-eye.

"All right!" the medic practically shrieked. "All right! You can go in! Just let me go! Fuck's sake, I'm not even getting paid to put up with this!"

"Thank you," South smiled sweetly as Wyoming pressed the entrance button on the wall and the Freelancers entered the medical bay. Maine showed his gratitude by shoving the medic into the nearby wall.

* * *

When they entered the medical bay, the first thing the group saw was Carolina having her broken arm fixed; it appeared that she had hit the pillar harder than the others realised it. South felt a smirk spread over her face when she saw her rival incapacitated.

"Oh _what_ a shame," she said in glee.

"South!" North scolded but he didn't sound as cross as he usually did when he was scolding his twin sister. South merely rolled her eyes and folded her arms. Wyoming summoned a nearby medic.

"I say old chap, where's Washington and Texas?" he asked. The medic pointed towards another set of doors that led to another room.

"Through there, sir. Agent Texas is resting at the moment so they may not be accepting visitors at the moment," he said politely.

"Well, this was the only time we could spare," York explained. "Except after dinner and we couldn't really wait any longer." The medic nodded.

"I see. Very well, this way please sirs and ma'am," he led them to the door and inputted a code. The doors slid open and the Freelancers walked in. Maine didn't shove _this _medic into the wall. The first thing they saw was Tex lying on the bed with her eyes closed and Wash sitting beside her, stroking her hair. York had briefly remembered of how he acted when Carolina was in her coma.

"Hey, Wash," North called softly. Wash jumped and looked round at them.

"Wha-? Oh, hey guys," he smiled wearily at them as they walked over.

"How's Tex?" York asked. Wash ran a hand through his hair.

"She's fine; she's just sleeping. It was quite tiring for her."

"And how's the baby?" South asked, her voice uncharacteristically calm. Wash smiled properly.

"The baby's fine, there weren't any problems with the birth; it was just, like I said, tiring for Tex." Theta appeared next to North.

"Agent Washington, are we allowed to see the baby?" he asked shyly. Wash nodded and pointed next to a smaller bed beside Tex.

"Be careful though," he warned. "Omega's quite protective of her." As if to prove his point, Omega appeared over the bed and growled at the Freelancers.

"It's fine Omega, they can look," Wash said to the AI and resumed stroking Tex's hair. Omega growled again and appeared next to Tex, keeping a wary eye on the Freelancers as they all bent over the bed.

"Oh my god!" South whispered. "She's adorable!" Wash smiled again. Escopeta had black hair growing out of her head already. She had Tex's lips and Wash's nose and when she opened her eyes to look at everything, the others could tell that she had inherited Wash's green eyes too.

"I say, old chap, I thought all babies had blue eyes," Wyoming turned to Wash.

"They do usually," Wash shrugged. "But sometimes, they're just born with the eye colour that they're going to have for the rest of their lives. It's not a problem or anything, it just happens sometimes."

_Has she been tested to see if she's going to have anything wrong with her in later life? _Maine asked. Wash shook his head.

"No, she's got no genetic disorders or illnesses. She'd perfectly healthy."

"Congratulations, man," North patted him on the back. Wash smiled sadly.

"I'm gonna miss her when we give her up," he muttered, turning away.

"Wait, what?" South said sharply. "What do you mean 'give her away'?"

"The Director," Wash sighed. "Maine managed to talk him out of abortion (oh yeah, he tried to kill her a couple of months ago) but he still forced us to put her up for adoption." Maine growled, Wyoming and York shared a look, South clenched her fists and North's eyes shone with a rare anger.

"What a jealous prick," York said bluntly and the others nodded in agreement.

"Yeah," Wash sighed again. "But unfortunately there's nothing we can do about it."


	13. Chapter 13

Instincts

**A.N. Warning! This chapter may contain lots of fluff! Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

When the Freelancers returned to the medical bay a couple of days later, Tex was awake and holding Escopeta. Omega was hovering by her shoulder, looking curiously at the baby and Wash was sitting next to them, still looking extremely tired, but smiling.

"Hey guys," North called. The two Freelancers looked up in surprise before they relaxed when they saw that it was just them.

"Hey," Wash called back.

"Hi," Tex said quietly. Dipping her head again, she went back to gently stroking Escopeta's hair. The other Freelancers walked over and sat down, some on the chairs that were next to the bed, the others on the bed itself. Omega began to growl deep in his throat but stopped at a warning look from Tex.

"So what have we missed?" Wash asked. York shrugged.

"Not much. Carolina broke her arm but it's been fixed now and she should be back training tomorrow."

"Fuck," South added.

"Also, some of the lower ranking agents decided to prank Four Seven Niner," Wyoming said. Maine gave a dry chuckle.

"That was funny," North grinned. "Basically, they decided to paint her Pelican with pink polka dots." Wash winced and Tex gave a small smile.

"I don't think you need to continue that," Wash muttered. South moved up the bed until she was next to Tex.

"So come on, spill," she demanded. "What was it like?" Tex looked up in surprise.

"What?"

"The birth. What was it like?"

"_South_!" North hissed, giving Tex and Wash an apologetic glance.

"North!" South mimicked his tone. "Fuck's sake, we've got a baby on the _Mother of Invention_. You can't blame a girl for asking!"

"The way the Director's going, there won't be a baby on the ship for much longer," Tex said grimly.

"Has he been to see her yet?" York asked as the door opened and the Director himself walked through the door, accompanied by the Counsellor and some marines. The Director looked over at the group gathered round the bed and his eyes narrowed when he saw Escopeta curled against her mother's chest, watching everyone curiously with wide green eyes.

_Washington's _eyes.

"Agents," the Director nodded curtly to them. None of them replied; they merely watched him with wary or angry eyes and South flicked her middle finger up at him (fortunately it was concealed behind Tex's back).

"I trust that the birth went well?" the Director continued.

"It did, sir," Tex replied quietly, smiling slightly as Escopeta reached out her hands and placed them on Maine's helmet.

"Good," the Director said mildly, trying not to give too much of his feelings about the baby away. It didn't work, seeing as the Freelancers already knew his feelings on the subject.

_You were hoping for her to be stillborn, didn't you sir? _Maine growled. Escopeta withdrew her hands from his helmet, clearly confused at his strange communication methods. It didn't last long and she turned in her mother's arms to grab onto South's middle finger. The agent gave a small squeak of surprise which turned into a coo as Escopeta pulled the finger closer to her and studied it curiously.

"What was that, Agent Maine?" the Director said coldly. Maine shrugged.

_Nothing _he growled, trying (and failing) to keep an innocent air around him. The Director snorted in disbelief and walked over to where Escopeta had let go of South's finger and was now regarding York, North and Wyoming. The Director felt a sharp twist of anguish when he looked at her eyes again, that were so much like Washington's, as opposed to his. Looking down at her, he made the decision to have her sent away as soon as possible but before he got to vocalise it, he heard a low, continuous growling.

"Agent Maine, stop that!" he snapped, turning and glaring round at the mute Freelancer. Maine held his hands up in protest.

_What? It's not me!_

"Then who is it?" the Director turned back to the other agents and looked up to see Omega about an inch away from his face. The source of the growling was coming from his throat.

"Omega! Cease that immediately!" the Director took a step closer to Escopeta before a full fledged snarl emerged from Omega.

"Counsellor, explain this!" the Director demanded, backing away from the AI, whose figure was flickering black. The Counsellor frowned as he consulted his data pad.

"It appears that Omega is displaying brotherly instincts towards Agent Texas and Agent Washington's offspring," he said. "This is a rare occurrence in an AI, but not, however, one of the symptoms of rampancy. I believe that during the course of Agent Texas' pregnancy, Omega became closely attached to the baby, in the same way that an AI is attached to their human."

"I see," the Director turned back to where Escopeta had began to play with her mother's hair with one hand and had rested her other hand on her father's wrist. The Director felt the pang of anguish again.

"Agents," he began before South's voice (so different to her usual snarling and snapping) drowned his out.

"She's so fucking adorable!" she practically squealed and the others agreed lustily. Escopeta gave a small smile which set them all off again.

"Agents!" the Director tried again, but this time it was North who interrupted him.

"It looks like Theta's got some competition for 'cutest-being-on-the-ship'," he turned and grinned at his AI. Theta shuffled his feet shyly and looked towards Omega for permission to go closer to Escopeta. When he nodded, Theta peered at the baby and the two watched each other curiously.

"Reminds me of back home in Blighty," Wyoming sniffed. York clapped Wash on the shoulder.

"Wash, this is probably the best move you've ever made," he grinned at his friend.

"Thanks York," Wash grinned back and mock punched him in the arm, causing South and Tex to roll their eyes and mutter about how men were so ridiculous.

"Agents?" the Director tried for the last time but Escopeta had dragged their attention away from him. Throwing his hands up in defeat, he stormed out the room, followed by the Counsellor and the marines. Delta, Sigma and Gamma had also appeared to look curiously at Escopeta, who was still (essentially) having a cute battle with Theta.

* * *

While Tex, Wash and everyone else on the _Mother of Invention _were sleeping, Omega appeared beside Escopeta's bed, as he had done for the past couple of nights. Tex and Wash were both dead to the world and were curled up together in the larger bed next to Omega and Escopeta. She had been an unusually good baby; not crying in the night and not waking her parents up at 5 o'clock in the morning. As Omega watched her, her eyelids moved and she stared up at him with her big green eyes. Omega flickered and he appeared next to her as a full size human. Bending over her, the AI stared into her eyes and gently brushed a strand of her jet black hair off her face. Escopeta giggled quietly and reached up towards the glowing man. As their fingertips touched, a jolt of electricity shuddered through Omega's body. He gave a wry smile; it seemed that the Counsellor had been right about the brotherly instincts thing. Escopeta giggled again and reached both her arms up towards Omega. He knelt down beside her and slowly traced circles on her stomach, causing her to give small squeals of delight. Moving his hand up to her chin and gently lifting it up, he put his other hand behind her head and stroked the back of her neck. Giggles began erupting from Escopeta's mouth and Omega allowed the corners of his lips to curve upwards. The sound of the door opening quietly, caused him to quickly lower her head again and he whirled round to see what _fool _had dared to enter the room. Fortunately, it wasn't the Director or Carolina; it was just a medic who was setting down a jug of water on the table beside Tex and Wash's bed before going back out again. Omega turned back to Escopeta and knelt beside her again. The baby yawned and her eyelids fluttered shut. Omega began to stroke her hair, the way he saw Tex doing it earlier.

"Sister," he whispered, his baritone a lot softer than usual. "Little sister."


	14. Chapter 14

Encounters

**A.N. This takes place three weeks later; Carolina's arm has been fixed, there have been some more AI implantations for the lower ranking agents and Tex, Wash and Escopeta have been released from the medical bay. Like the last chapter, this may contain some fluff so be warned!**

* * *

Carolina flipped over Wyoming and Maine and punched North in the face. She then turned to the other two agents, blocked Wyoming's punch and kicked Maine away. She then turned on her sprint ability and hurtled towards Wyoming. Pulling her fist back, she prepared to punch him into submission when everything slowed down drastically.

_No! _she snarled inside her head. Curse Wyoming and his stupid time distortion unit! And curse Gamma for activating it. Eta and Iota remained silent inside her head, despite her pleas to counteract it. Wyoming calmly walked up to her at a leisurely pace and cocked his head to one side. Slowly, he drew his fist back and knocked her to the floor. The time distortion was released on Carolina and she fell down at the speed of a running gazelle when it has just been shot.

"Match concluded," F.I.L.S.S. chirped. "Winner: Agent Wyoming. Congratulations!"

"No!" Carolina howled and tried to rise, to _finish _this, but Wyoming, Maine and North were already walking out the doors. The past couple of weeks, ever since her arm had been fixed when Wash had broken it, she had been doing Last Man Standing. It seemed to work for Texas so why shouldn't it work for her? She _was _the better agent after all! Storming out of the room, she pushed past a bunch of marines and stalked down the corridor where all the higher ranking agents' rooms were. Pausing at Texas' room, she checked around for Omega. There was no sign of him.

"Look Texas," she began, flinging open the door. She was greeted with the sight of nobody in the room. Walking into the room itself, she looked at the books on the bookcase, the DVDs and a small bed next to the larger bed. Striding over, she peered into it. Escopeta was curled up in the blankets, her eyes tightly closed and her hand clamped around her thumb. Her hair (which had grown a bit longer) fell across her forehead and over her ears. Carolina growled quietly; she was essentially looking down at a mini-Texas. All of a sudden, Escopeta's eyelids trembled slightly and she opened her eyes. Carolina paled as she looked down into the eyes that were virtually the same as the ones that looked at her every day. Previously, those eyes had been full of trust and respect for her, but recently Washington's eyes always narrowed whenever he saw her. Escopeta looked at Carolina curiously before she giggled and gave her a big grin. This proved to be too much for Carolina. Staggering back, she opened the door, gave the bed one last look and ran.

* * *

Omega looked down proudly at his baby sister. Of course, she wasn't _really _his younger sibling but, like the Counsellor had said to the Director, he was experiencing brotherly instincts towards her. That included watching over her in the night, growling at anyone who came too close to her without his, Tex's or Wash's permission and protecting her from the likes of the Director, Hawaii and Carolina. At the moment, Tex and Wash had brought Escopeta into the dining hall (at the persistent requests from South) and she was sitting on the table, smiling and looking up at everyone around her. Previously, Tex and Wash hadn't been out of her room (except for training) and usually sent a marine or one of their friends to get lunch for them. However today, South had practically forced them to take her into the dining hall and show her off to the entire project. So far, they had pulled a massive crowd. The only people (or AIs) that Omega was letting near her at the moment were York and Delta, North and Theta, Maine and Sigma, Wyoming and Gamma, South and Florida. Escopeta had grabbed York's finger and Wyoming's thumb (one in each hand) and was studying them both curiously. Theta was hovering next to her and was looking at her, Tex and Wash in fascination. The other Freelancers were either talking to each other, or Wash and Tex, or were staring down as Escopeta giggled and pressed the finger and thumb together. The door suddenly opened and the Director and the Counsellor walked in.

"Agents!" the Director barked. "What the _hell_ is all this racket about?" He glared at everybody. His eyes narrowed when they found the source of the uproar. Escopeta, oblivious to what was going on around her, giggled quietly and placed her hand on North's helmet. Pulling it closer, she studied it curiously before she smiled again and drummed her hands on the visor. The AIs crowded round her and watched her protectively, none more so than Omega.

"Agents!" the Director continued gruffly. "You will all go back to your tables immediately and I do _not_ want a repeat of this!" _The sooner that infant's gone, the better _he thought darkly. _And then possibly an 'accident' for Washington and Allison will be mine again. But Omega would never allow that to happen _he glanced at the AI who was still hovering beside Escopeta, protecting her. _Why has everything got to be so complicated? _And with that, he stormed out the room with the Counsellor on his heels. Slowly, the agents went back to their own tables, sat back down and began to eat their lunch. The AIs logged off and the Freelancers sat down at the table. Tex picked Escopeta up and held her to her chest and Omega appeared next to her. When everyone was sure that the Director was out of earshot, the talking began again.

"What the fuck is his _problem_?" South demanded. "It's not like there was any harm being done."

"The Director's just jealous," Wash ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "He seems to have it in for Escopeta and he's definitely going to make us give her up." Tex sighed softly and gently stroked Escopeta's hair. The baby reached her hand up and grasped a strand of her mother's hair. She giggled as Tex lifted her back up and placed her on the table, after gently detaching her hair from Escopeta's hand. The door opened again and everyone looked up. Everyone except York promptly scowled; Carolina was striding over to their table.

"I have had it up to _here_," she indicated with her hand. "With this!"

"Oh wow," South said in a bored voice. "Carolina's whining again. Who here's interested? Oh that's right, _no one_! Fuck off Carolina!" York and North frowned at South but the other agents looked at her in amusement.

"Shut up South!" Carolina slammed her Magnum down on the table, dangerously near Escopeta. A snarl emerged from Omega and as Carolina was opening her mouth to continue, a jolt of electricity ran up her armour, causing her to cry out in pain and yank her arm away.

"Careful," Tex said mildly as Carolina glared at the AI. "Omega's pretty protective of her."

* * *

After lunch, the agents went to the viewing room to watch Maine and Arizona train against each other. From what they had seen of the lower ranking agent when he was in the locker room with his friends, he was a bit nervous, to say the least, and he wasn't expected to emerge from this encounter alive. His friends were either taking bets on how long he was going to last or bartering over his stuff. The door to the viewing room opened and Hawaii walked in, accompanied by some of his own friends.

"Tex," he called. "Why don't you come over and join us?" The agents around him nudged each other and tittered about how 'brave he is, talking to the best agent in the project'. The higher ranking agents rolled their eyes and Tex merely gave Hawaii the middle finger and went back to playing with Escopeta. She seemed to like it when the agents took their helmets off and swapped with the agent next to them. However, Hawaii wasn't going to be put off. Directing his friends to a corner, he strode over to the others. Tex immediately drew Escopeta closer to her, Wash clenched his fists and the AIs appeared in front of the baby, all with their arms folded and scowls on their faces (even Theta).

"Oh come on," Hawaii crooned, placing his hand on Tex's cheek. York, North, South and Wyoming had to grab Wash's arms to stop him from leaping on Hawaii and killing him in the most painful way possible.

"It would be better if Maine was here!" North gasped as the four agents' muscles strained as they desperately tried to pull Wash back. Tex slapped Hawaii's hand away from her and narrowed her eyes.

"No," she growled. Escopeta looked anxiously from both her parents (the other four agents looked like their arms were on the verge of breaking) to Hawaii. Omega was almost roaring, Gamma and Delta were snarling and Theta had begun to growl. Hawaii smiled, completely unfazed, and this seemed to push Wash over the edge. Shaking the other four agents off, he drew his fist back and punched Hawaii so hard in the face, he was thrust a good 10 metres back and his visor cracked. There was silence for several minutes.

"Meh, that asshole deserved it," York said mildly and everyone turned (completely ignoring Hawaii) to where Maine had abandoned his weapon and was dangling Arizona upside down.


	15. Chapter 15

Goodbyes

**A.N. Sorry that this chapter has taken a bit longer to upload than the others but there's been lots of revision for the exams (that finished on Monday, thank god) and also writing my latest story Teams and Families get All Shook up (it's a crossover between my Transformers fanfic All Shook up and Teams and Families). Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter; it takes place a fortnight after Encounters! And in case any of you are concerned about the title, this is **_**not **_**the end of Feelings! P.S. Sorry about the Paloma Faith reference; I just had to. I blame Epsilon.**

* * *

The Director sighed as he watched the video in his private quarters. It was the same one he watched every night; when Allison was about to go off to war, and he knew that he'd never see her again, and she would tell him not to say goodbye. The Director put his head in his hands and sighed again.

_Leonard, come on, stop it._

When Texas had joined the project he had been shaken to see how much she looked like Allison. She had the same determined look in her eyes, the same confidence in the way she spoke, she even shared the same name and hated goodbyes for god's sake!

_Put that thing down._

He had hoped that she would become what Allison had been to him. He gave her special treatment (despite knowing full well that it would drive a wedge between her and the other Freelancers), given her the strongest AI they had ever created from the Alpha, moved her up to number 1 (though that was mostly because she'd proved that she was the best). He had been close, so close. But then Washington had to come into the picture and ruin it all.

_You're gonna make me late._

Of course, it could have just have been a thirty minute love affair and then Texas would come back to him, but Fate seemed to have had a personal vendetta against him. How it must have laughed when it saw Carolina striding into the bridge of the _Mother of Invention _and informing him that Texas was pregnant with Washington's child.

_They're waiting for me._

He had tried to kill the baby a couple of times, when she was still in the womb, and he wished that Texas would suffer a miscarriage and return to him. But she didn't and he even had Omega and Maine threatening him! Him! The Director of this whole project! A little respect was hard to come by these days…

_And don't worry._

He had been to see the infant when she was a few days old and it was clear that all the agents and the AIs adored her. He had tried not to let his emotions show when he looked at the baby, but it was damn hard, especially when he looked at her eyes. Fate must have invited Irony round for drinks and both of them must have rolled about on the floor laughing their heads off as he looked into the green eyes that could have been his and instead were Washington's.

_You'll see me again._

The Director clenched his fists and resolved to have the baby sent away as soon as possible. Then he could have Allison again…no he couldn't. Two things stood in the way and their names were Washington and Omega.

_But don't say goodbye._

Still, the sooner the baby was sent away, the better. The Director sighed for the third time and laid his head on the pillow. He felt as if he had lost Allison all over again. He hadn't seemed to grasp that Tex hated being controlled and isolated from the other Freelancers and there was no way on Earth that she'd settle down with him as she wasn't Allison. Before his eyes closed, the Director vowed in his head that he'd do _anything _to bring her back to him. Anything.

_I hate goodbyes._

* * *

Wash picked the Magnum up and turned it over in his hand. He admired the almost-professional way that the two states had been carved into the metal.

"I'm impressed," he said to the agent who was standing sulkily in front of him. North had assured him and Tex that Agent Montana was the best carver in the project but York, being the tight-ass he always was, had insisted that they should blackmail Montana into doing the carvings instead of paying him. He had subsequently sent Delta and F.I.L.S.S. to browse the _Mother of Invention_'s security cameras for suitable blackmail material. Within two hours, the two AIs had come up with the perfect specimen. York had promptly left (leaving six stunned agents and four highly amused AIs) for Montana's quarters. From what the others had gathered from the lower ranking agents gossiping in the corridor, York had showed Montana the film that Delta had obtained (much to the agent's humiliation) and told him bluntly that if he didn't carve the two states into the Magnum, then the video would 'accidently' get leaked across the entire ship. Montana, obviously, had agreed and now Wash was collecting the finished product, along with Maine and York for backup.

"Excellent," York grinned at Montana and turned to his AI. "Delta, delete the video files that you obtained." _But not the backups _he added in his head so only Delta could hear him.

"Complying," Delta replied calmly. "Process complete."

"Thanks D," York nodded at him and Delta logged off. Wash pocketed the Magnum and he and York left the room. Maine remained for a moment, however, and strode up to Montana.

_Say one word about this to the Director and I will personally break your neck _he growled and Sigma translated for the benefit of Montana.

"I-I won't Agent, uh, Mr Maine, sir!" Montana squeaked, shrinking visibly under Maine's glare.

_Wise move _Maine growled and stalked out the room. Hearing a small thump behind him, he turned to see Montana had fainted in the middle of the room.

_I tend to have that effect on people _he smiled slightly.

* * *

The Director stalked down the corridor and pushed open the door to Tex's room. Surprisingly, nobody was there so he shut the door and went into Washington and Maine's room. Second time lucky; all the agents (except Carolina) were crowding round Maine's bed looking at the new improvements he had made to his Brute Shot. Tex had Escopeta on her lap.

"Agents," the Director said curtly, by way of greeting. They all jumped and saluted. Escopeta watched them with intelligent green eyes and lifted her hand to her forehead in imitation of them; causing South to practically shriek and everyone forgot the Director and crowded round Escopeta. The Director cleared his throat, dragging their attention back to him.

"Agents, I have come here for a reason," he continued.

"Is it Maine's adjustments to his Brute Shot, sir?" Wyoming asked. "Because we all think he's done a cracking job."

"No Agent Wyoming," the Director replied. "It is not about that. It is about removing a hindrance to the project." The agents turned to each other, frowning in confusion. Wash's face was the first to clear and he turned to the Director with an expression of shock and fury etched on his face.

"Director, she's barely a month old! You can't possibly be thinking…!"

"It is necessary for the prosperity of the project Agent Washington!" the Director snapped back. Tex clutched Escopeta closer to her as all the colour drained from her face. The other agents uttered exclamations, Omega snarled and a small shriek exchanged from Theta.

"Have that infant removed by the end of the day or I will," the Director finished and strode out of the room. His sense of accomplishment felt so great that he failed to notice the wire that was 'mysteriously' hanging down from the ceiling until he brushed it with his shoulder and received an electric shock.

* * *

The mood in Four Seven Niner's Pelican was very subdued. The pilot herself stared rigidly ahead and said nothing; along with many others she disagreed fiercely with the Director's decision but everyone knew that there was nothing they could do about it. In the back of the Pelican, Tex and Wash were sitting in the corner, clutching their daughter close to them with grief written all over their faces. Omega was hovering by Tex's shoulder saying nothing and looking down at Escopeta for the last time. The other agents sat on the other side, either talking in whispers or not at all. Finally, Four Seven Niner turned around and looked at the Freelancers.

"We've arrived," she said simply. Tex and Wash sighed and stood up. The other agents rose as well and their AIs shimmered into existence. For a while, they all stared down at the sleeping baby. Eventually, Tex placed her in the basket that they had brought with them, containing (unknown to the Director) the Magnum and a simple white card with the word 'Escopeta' written on it. As Tex and Wash exited the Pelican, the other agents sat back down again.

"You know, I don't think that I can trust the Director any more," Theta said bleakly as he logged off with the other AI.

"We know what you mean Theta," York said quietly looking towards the entrance to the orphanage where Tex and Wash were standing. Wash slowly brushed Escopeta's hair off her face and Tex gave her one last kiss. She laid the basket down by the gates and Wash rang the doorbell. They both turned and hurried back to the Pelican. Four Seven Niner had just taken off when a matron opened the gates, glanced around and spotted the basket. She picked it up and carried it indoors. The other agents looked cautiously towards Wash and Tex. Tex had buried her head in Wash's chest and her shoulders shook. Omega silently logged off. Wash's eyes narrowed and he raised his middle finger to the heavens, doubtless intended for the Director.

* * *

Four Seven Niner's Pelican entered the bay and landed carefully. The agents got out, with Wash thanking the pilot in a hollow voice. As they walked down the corridor back to their rooms, they encountered the Director.

"I see that you have done as I ordered," he said coolly, while inside he was whooping with joy. Allison was one step closer.

"Yes _sir_," Wash said coldly. The Director merely raised his eyebrow and turned away. He saw Wash and South clenching their fists and gave a wry smile. What he didn't see, however, was York's highlights shining green, North's visor turning blue and purple, blue lightning flickering across Wyoming's armour, flames seemingly darting across Maine's helmet and Tex's eyes turning a very dangerous shade of black.


	16. Chapter 16

Recovering

Carolina strode down the corridor, entered her shared room with South and tossed her helmet onto her bed.

"You're looking glum," she remarked when she saw the purple Freelancer looking over a report but not really reading it.

"Fuck off Carolina," South snapped, lowering the report and raising her middle finger. Carolina merely raised her eyebrow and strode out of the room. Walking down the corridor, she bumped into North, York and Wyoming who were standing outside Wyoming and Florida's room and talking about something.

"Guess what happened in my training session today," she began, hoping for a chance to show off. Even if Wyoming and North ignored her, York would still listen with rapt attention.

"Uh Carolina?" the tan Freelancer rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Now's not really the time..." Carolina stopped and stated at him. York never stopped her from talking. What had gotten into everybody?!

"If this is something to do with Texas..." she began before North of all people cut her off!

"For once, in your whole time in the fucking project, will you shut up about your pathetic concerns to be number 1 again?!" he snarled. The other three Freelancers stared at him in surprise (and a little fear). None of them knew that North even had a temper. Theta appeared next to him with his arms folded. Carolina slowly backed away, turned on her heel and ran down the corridor. When she reached Tex's room, she stopped, arranged her face into a smirk and pushed the door open. Tex was sitting on her bed with her back to Carolina and her head in her hands. Omega was hovering by her shoulder, talking to her about something.

"Well, well, Texas," Carolina began in a sing-song voice. "What's been going on here?"

"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me," Tex replied in a muffled voice.

"Tsk, tsk," Carolina scolded, her smirk growing wider. "Looks like someone's in a bad mood." The next thing she knew, she was on the floor, blood was pouring from her nose and mouth and Texas was standing over her with her fist outstretched.

"**Listen to me very closely**," Texas growled; her eyes were glowing black and her voice had a deep echo to it. Carolina dimly registered that it sounded like both Omega and Texas were talking at the same time.

"**You have no right coming in here. You've never had any right to come in here. And at this moment in time, after what I've just been forced to do, you are the last person I want to see. So GET OUT OF MY FUCKING ROOM**!" her voice rose to a snarl. Carolina scuttled backwards on her hands, flung open the door and bolted through it. Once she had gone, Tex's eyes returned to their normal blue and she flung herself onto her bed and began to sob.

* * *

Wash opened his locker, flung his battle rifle in, removed his helmet and wiped his forehead with a towel. He had just returned from weapons training with Wisconsin and his head now felt as if it was about to fall off. What didn't help was running into the Director on his way out of the training room. The two men had stared at each other for a good 30 seconds before the Director gave him a curt nod and Wash responded with a salute. Growling slightly, he slammed the locker door shut and stalked out of the room. On his way back to his room, he ran into Maine (who was just going for his own training match against Alaska.

_You ok Wash?_ he growled, reaching out and squeezing his friend's shoulder.

"I dunno Maine," Wash sighed, pulling his helmet back over his head. "A lot of bad things are happening. I don't think I really know who to trust anymore."

_Well, I'll be here for you buddy. And I highly doubt that Tex is going to let you go. The AIs like you, as do York, North, Wyoming, Florida and South. I don't know about the others, but I can honestly say that I trust you and I hope that you trust me too_ Maine growled quietly. Wash gave a small smile.

"Thanks Maine. I feel that I can trust you too. Do me a favour and never change or let anyone else change you?"

_I'll try_ the mute Freelancer grinned at his friend and gave his shoulder a friendly punch before heading to his training session to terrify Alaska and beat the living crap out of him.

* * *

Tex was curled up on her bed, looking miserably at the bookcase. She had stopped crying but her grief was still tearing her into small pieces, even with Omega whispering comforting words. She still couldn't believe that the Director had forced her to give up her baby for the simple reason that it was Wash, not him, who was the father. Tex's hand clenched into a fist. When she had first discovered that she was pregnant with Wash's child, she had been terrified but as time drew on, she grew to cherish the feeling of the baby growing inside her. She knew that Omega was growing fonder of the child the longer she was in the womb. Before Escopeta had been born, Tex hadn't known the meaning of the phrase 'love at first sight' but when she first laid eyes on her baby, she finally understood. Escopeta was so much like her father; she had his eyes and some of his facial figures. For a short while, she, Wash and Omega had felt like the happiest people (and AI) in the universe. But the Director had taken all that away. Tex closed her eyes and sighed before a soft knock on the door stirred her. Opening it, she saw Wash standing there; he must have just come from his training session. Once he had entered and she had shut the door behind him, he pulled off his helmet and gently pressed his lips to hers.

"My god Wash," she whispered when they pulled away but still held each other close. "How are we going to deal with this?"

"It's going to be hard as hell," he replied softly. "But we'll do it somehow. At least we've got each other." Tex rolled her eyes but smiled.

"Don't go all fucking sappy whatever you do," she ran her finger down his cheek.

"Why not?" he teased. "You know you love it really." Tex's smile widened and they locked lips once again. Omega appeared next to Tex and raised his eyebrow beneath his helmet.

"You two are fucked up," he concluded but allowed himself a slight smile, in the midst of all his grief at losing his younger sister, before logging off.


	17. Chapter 17

Resilience

**A.N. This takes place a fortnight later, so Tex, Omega and Wash are gradually recovering from the trauma of giving up Escopeta. And thanks to Dude for reviewing with laughter worthy of the Joker!**

* * *

The lunch hall was crowded when the higher ranking agents entered, grabbed their trays and plates of food and sat down. Wyoming pulled off his helmet first and the others gradually followed suit. York yawned and leant back in his seat, twirling the spaghetti absently on his fork. North rolled his eyes and grinned at his friend as he ate his own meal. Wash ran his hand through his hair and rubbed his temple unconsciously as he stared down at the less-than-appetizing lasagne.

"You'd have thought that given we are an elite military project, they could have found us better shit to eat," South grumbled as she pierced a bit of pasta covered in carbonara sauce with her fork, brought it up to eye-level and warily inspected it. Maine growled in agreement as he prodded his veal scaloppini and tentatively took a bite.

"It's not _all_ terrible," Tex pointed out, taking a bite of pizza and resting her head on Wash's shoulder.

"That's fine for you to say," South complained, letting the pasta drop off her fork back onto the plate and took a sip of her coffee instead. "You always manage to get the nice option. I swear that this crap is worse than our old school dinners, right North?"

"They were pretty terrible," North agreed and turned to the others. "South then had to stop having them, due to the fact that she attempted to drown one of the lunchtime supervisors in the vat of tomato sauce." There was silence for a good thirty seconds as everyone stared at South. She merely shrugged.

"That bitch was asking for it," she said calmly.

"…wow," York said eventually. "Just…wow, South." South shrugged again and for the next ten minutes, they ate their lunch in silence. South broke the silence again by swearing very loudly, causing the others to look up in surprise and then narrow their eyes when they saw why South was swearing.

"I've just returned from a very important meeting with the Director and the Counsellor," Carolina announced smugly, standing behind York and North.

"Oh wow, how _interesting_," Wash snapped. "We don't give a shit about how you've been sucking up to that asshole, Carolina!"

"Oh come now Washington," Carolina raised her eyebrow and rolled her eyes dramatically. Eta and Iota appeared next to her with their arms folded. Omega, Gamma, Sigma, Delta and Theta appeared and scowled at their brothers.

"There's no need to hold a grudge," Carolina continued, apparently not noticing Wash and Tex stiffen. "The Director merely did what was necessary for the prosperity of the project. I don't see what you're getting so worked up ab-ACK!" She staggered back, clutching her mouth in order to try and staunch the blood that was currently pouring from it.

_Texas punched me again _she thought in bewilderment as she stared up at the other Freelancer.

"**Bitch**," Tex/Omega growled and stalked past Carolina, closely followed by Wash, Maine, Wyoming, North, York (who snuck her an apologetic glance) and South, who couldn't resist kicking the teal Freelancer as she passed her.

* * *

Wash paused outside Tex's room and knocked. After he heard her calling that he could come in, he entered and walked over to where Tex was laying on her bed, absently turning her helmet over in her hands. Omega was hovering in front of the bookcase, looking at the books.

"Hey," Wash sat beside her and pulled his own helmet off. Tex smiled up at him but uttered an exclamation when she saw the black eye he was sporting.

"What the hell happened?!" she demanded, gently running her fingernail along the bottom of the bruise. Wash gave a wry smile as he moved his own hand to where hers was stroking his cheek.

"Oh nothing really," he tried to shrug it off. "Just an injury I picked up in training earlier. So, how's Omega?"

"Don't try and change the subject Washington," Tex said sternly. "That's not 'nothing'. What happened?"

"Hawaii took me by surprise in CQB, that's all. I got my own back by punching that fucker in the gut and then breaking his leg," Wash replied reluctantly. Tex slowly moved so she was sitting behind him and wrapped her arms around his chest.

"Ok Wash, I think you've proved that you can take care of yourself," she said softly. Wash turned so that he was facing her and looking into her stormy blue eyes.

"Course I can," he teased, running a lock of her hair between his fingers. She playfully slapped his hand away and he pressed his lips to hers in retaliation. Gently lowering her onto her back, he cupped her face in his hand and ran his finger down her neck. She gave a small squeal and pulled him closer, so he was practically lying on top of her. A sharp knock at the door caused them to break apart.

"Who could that be?" Wash mused.

"Omega, tell whoever it is to fuck off," Tex told her AI and turned back to where Wash had begun to trace circles on her stomach. Omega was painfully reminded of doing that himself to Escopeta and quickly appeared outside the door.

"Director," he said coldly when he saw the man waiting outside the door.

"Omega," the Director replied just as curtly. "Is Agent Texas in?"

"She is," Omega said with an evil laugh. "And she has a special message for you."

"What?" the Director replied, a little too eagerly.

"Fuck off," Omega smirked before giving another evil laugh as he logged off.

* * *

Tex pulled the book out of the bookcase and opened it at the beginning of the chapter labelled _War in the Sky. _Omega appeared on her shoulder as she began to read aloud. Wash had had to leave after they spent three quarters of an hour together. When she was almost halfway through the chapter, there was another knock on the door. Tex lowered the book and she and Omega excanged a look before the door opened.

"Agent Texas, I hope that I am not interrupting anything this time?" the Director said coolly. Omega gave a low growl and Tex shut the book with a snap.

"No, _sir_," she replied coldly.

"Excellent," the Director said briskly and entered the room, shutting the door behind him.

"With all due respect sir," Tex said, drawing back warily as he examined the books on the bookcase. "I prefer to be left alone at this time."

"I take it that doesn't apply to Agent Washington," he shot back. Tex bit her lip slightly. Taking advantage of her hesitation, the Director strode over to where she was sitting, ignoring Omega's warning growls.

"Agent Texas," he continued. "I am afraid that you have been blatantly been disobeying multiple orders which therefore, merits punishment."

"Oh fucking hell!" Tex snapped, curling her hands into fists. "Director, do these 'rules' even exist?" The Director took off his glasses and sighed. She got him there.

"Very well Agent Texas," he said wearily. "I shall leave you and Omega to continue with...whatever you were doing." Tex nodded once and opened the book again. Omega glared at the Director before turning his attention to where Tex had begun to read again.

"Goodnight...Allison," the Director said softly. Tex put the book down and looked at him in irritation.

"My name is not Allison. My name is Texas. You gave me this name; the least you can do is call me by it."


	18. Chapter 18

Affections

**A.N. This takes place a couple of days later and not a lot has really happened on the **_**Mother of Invention**_**…apart from a couple of lower ranking agents attempting to prank the AIs (that included F.I.L.S.S. but not Alpha for obvious reasons) and instead were chased around the training room by vehicles which were 'mysteriously' driving themselves**

* * *

Wash slowly rolled his shoulders and moved his arm so that he wasn't lying on it as it was beginning to give him cramp. He reached up and brushed away a strand of hair that was falling over Tex's face. Her lips curved up in a smile and she ran her fingertip down his cheek. They were both in her room and Wash was lying bare-chested on her bed with Tex sitting on his hips in just her underwear. Wash grinned back and, cupping her chin with his hand, brought her face close to his and locked lips with her. She moaned with pleasure and wrapped her arms around him, caressing his back and shoulder blades. He gently ran his fingers down her neck, knowing that that was where she was especially ticklish, and subsequently had them playfully slapped away and pinned down. Omega was watching them both from where he was hovering on top of the wardrobe. Tex pulled her boyfriend upright and wrapped her legs around his lower back. Wash responded by slowly tracing swirls on her bare back. Omega allowed himself a small smile and appeared in front of the bookcase. Out of the corner of his eye, he could still see Tex and Wash embracing and quickly logged off before they made him experience actual _happiness_. **(A.N. *shudder*)**

* * *

Carolina slammed her fist into the wall as she looked up at the retreating figures of Texas, North and Wyoming. She had attempted to do Last Man Standing again, but had once again been humiliated by the black armoured Freelancer and her AI. Despite their own body parts being pummelled, Wyoming, Gamma, Theta and North had still mocked Carolina's defeat and had sauntered off with Texas and Omega once F.I.L.S.S. had announced her victory, as if to add to Carolina's humiliation! Carolina scowled viciously and ran after Texas. Once the other female Freelancer had separated from Wyoming and North, she went down the corridor to the weaponry, as opposed to the corridor leading to the locker room. Striding past the guards, who did not seem inclined at all to stop her, she entered the room and was just picking up a Spartan Laser as the doors shut behind her. Carolina instantly tried to follow but the two marines blocked her way with their two assault rifles.

"Sorry Agent Carolina, but you're not allowed to go in there," one said.

"But Texas just entered, literally thirty seconds ago!" Carolina argued.

"Agent Texas has permission from the Director to go into the weaponry whenever she chooses, because of her AI, Omega," the second marine explained.

"I know what he's called!" Carolina snapped. "Now I demand that you let me in!" But the marines still refused to move. Carolina was considering calling the Counsellor and having him order them out the way as the doors opened and Texas walked out. She froze when she saw the teal Freelancer arguing with the two guards.

"For fuck's sake, have you seriously resorted to stalking me?!" she demanded, folding her arms and scowling.

"Why were you in there?" Carolina folded her own arms.

"And that concerns you, how?" Texas raised her eyebrow.

"Will you stop answering my questions with your own questions?" Carolina snapped.

"Well aren't you a **fucking hypocrite**?" Texas's voice deepened until she and Omega were talking in unison. Carolina subconsciously wished that Eta and Iota could do that with her own voice before she ruthlessly squashed that idea. What was she doing wishing that she could be like Texas?! _She _was the better agent that others should aspire to be like!

"**I'm waiting**," Texas/Omega began to tap her foot impatiently.

"I…uh…" Carolina stuttered over her words, feeling her face burning scarlet as Texas/Omega and the two marines smirked at her discomfort.

"**I thought so**," Texas/Omega growled as she pushed past Carolina, leaving her in the middle of the corridor with the two marines continuously poking fun at her.

* * *

That night, Wash snuck into Tex's room and shut the door silently, being especially quiet so as to surprise her. Tex was sitting on her bed, flicking through a report that York had given to her; as the number 1, Tex was required to read it through and check that it was accurate. Carolina had had to do the same thing when she was at the top of the leader board. Wash crept up behind her and was about to grab her when she put the report down.

"I know you're there Washington," she said, amusement evident in her voice.

"Fuck," Wash cursed and sat down behind her. She turned around and grinned at his mock hurt expression.

"Your sneaking tactics aren't terrible but you have to work harder on breathing quieter," she smiled and ran her finger along his cheekbones. He caught it, used the momentum to spin her around and clasped his arms around her. She gave a mock squeal and playfully tried to slap him away. In retaliation he pulled her close and pressed his lips on top of hers. She grabbed his armour, pulled him around and pushed him down on the bed so that she was on top of him. Wash moaned as she began tracing her finger down his chest and he caressed her face. Tex grinned and began pulling off his armour and he immediately began to do the same to her. Omega appeared and looked at the two Freelancers, at York's report that was lying forgotten on the floor and back at the two, now naked, Freelancers.

"Uh, Texas, are you going to continue…Texas?...Washington?...Fuck it," he sighed and logged off.

* * *

Wash looked up at the ceiling. It was midnight and he and Tex were still together in her room. He knew that Maine would understand and looked down at his chest, the starlight glinting off his bare skin and the area of jet black that was resting on him. Wash unconsciously moved his hand down to stroke Tex's hair. She stirred slightly and opened her eyes.

"Wash? You ok?" she asked sleepily.

"Mm, what? Oh yeah, I'm fine, just can't sleep at the moment," he replied absently.

"I know what you mean," Tex said softly and 'walked' her fingers up his chest.

"You're quite a distraction, you know?" Wash said teasingly.

"Oh, so it's _my _fault?" Tex raised her eyebrow.

"I never said that was a bad thing," Wash lifted her chin up and softly pressed his lips to hers.

"How's the black eye?" she asked when they pulled away.

"Bit sore," Wash replied, smiling wryly. "Better than Hawaii's leg is, anyway." Tex gave a soft laugh and rested her head on his shoulder.

"God, I miss her," she murmured, more to herself than Wash. He heard anyway.

"I know," he sighed, leaning forwards and kissing her forehead. "Me too. But at least we're not completely alone, right? I've got you, and you've got me."

"Well there is that," Tex smiled, sitting up quickly and giving him one last kiss before she snuggled back down and her breathing became steady. As Wash watched her sleeping, he gave a long yawn and his eyelids flickered shut.

* * *

The Director clenched his head to his hands in frustration. The Counsellor looked over at him in concern.

"It is getting late, Director," he said. "Perhaps we should…?"

"Shut up Counsellor!" the Director snapped. "We must harvest this new fragment as soon as possible."

"Of course, sir," the Counsellor turned back to where the Ontarian was pulsating slightly. "Beta, add some more variables," he suggested. The deep blue AI appeared next to him.

"Acknowledged," he said in a deep voice. "Sigma, increase stress levels by 65.3%."

"Of course," Sigma nodded and turned his attention back to the monitor which was revealing all of what was going on inside the AI storage unit.

"_Director, Counsellor, shit is going down_!" Alpha tried to force himself to remain calm. "_I'm not sure that I can maintain control anymore! Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap oh _crap!"

"The Ontarian really was a useful find," the Director mused.

"Yes sir," the Counsellor agreed. "It does make the environment in the Alpha's storage unit more…realistic." A light by the side of the storage unit began to flash rapidly.

"About time," the Director growled and turned to the two AIs. "Your job is done. Log off."

"How exhilarating," Sigma said to Beta. "A new brother to meet."

"I doubt that it matters," Beta replied brusquely. "We will all outlive our usefulness one day." And with that, he logged off and returned to his own storage unit.

"That won't happen with what I've got planned," Sigma said darkly as he logged off and rejoined Maine.

"Send it in," the Director barked and a marine wheeled in the Sarcophagus. "You know what you have to do," he said to the creature inside and handed it an untouched storage unit. There was a flash of red and black light and the creature returned to the Sarcophagus.

"Counsellor, which letter are we up to now?" the Director turned to him and the Counsellor typed some commands into his data pad.

"I believe that it's…Lambda sir."

"Then welcome to the world, Lambda," the Director's voice echoed throughout the storage unit where a small red and black figure raised its head in curiosity but stoically remained calm. "And happy birthday."

* * *

**A.N. I know that in Teams and Families, Carolina said that Lambda had been created after the project collapsed, but she was (as she usually is) wrong and Lambda was merely not assigned to an agent before he was recovered by Carolina and Church and implanted into Escopeta**


	19. Chapter 19

Relaxing

**A.N. This takes place two weeks later. So far, another two AI fragments have been created, one of whom has been given to Agent Massachusetts**

* * *

Tex gave a small squeal as Wash slowly ran his finger down the side of her body. He gave a big grin and playfully twirled a bit of her hair around his finger. She slapped his hand away gently and crawled on top of him. Bending so that her face was centimetres away from his, she smiled herself and lightly placed her lips on top of his. A small moan of pleasure escaped his lips and he pulled her closer to him, winding his arms around her neck. Tex responded by clasping her own arms around Wash's shoulders and slowly caressing them with her fingers. A loud, insistent knocking on the door caused them to break apart with a sound of annoyance emerging from Tex's mouth. Throwing a bath robe around her naked body, she walked over to the door and opened it after Omega had appeared by her side.

"South?" she said when she saw who was standing there. "What's going on?"

"Director's over the moon at some of his achievements so he's given the top 8 agents the night off," South replied, grinning.

"Really?" Wash walked up behind Tex, his jacket hastily slung round his shoulders. "That's great! 'Bout time we got a break, eh Tex?"

"Damn right," Tex replied. "I think we all need it."

"York got Delta to look up this sweet-ass restaurant and nightclub," South said, still grinning. "We're leaving at 7:30. Wear something nice." She grinned again and walked off to her room.

"I think that I prefer this South," Wash mused as they went back into the room and Tex shut the door. "Less cranky." Tex gave a soft laugh and pulled her bathrobe off again. Wash grinned and dumped his jacket on the floor and they both climbed back on top of the bed.

* * *

Four Seven Niner was finishing the final preparations on her Pelican when the male agents entered the bay. Wyoming was (predictably) wearing a silver tux and bow tie and was chatting with North, who was wearing a dark green top and dark purple trousers and jacket. Maine followed them, wearing an orange polo shirt and white trousers. York and Wash brought up the rear. York was fiddling with his gold T-shirt and looked down anxiously at his silver trousers. Wash, who was looking the most relaxed out of the group, was wearing a leather jacket over a yellow T-shirt and dark grey jeans. He also had a Stetson perched on top of his head.

"Seriously? The hat?" North raised his eyebrow when he saw it.

"What's wrong with it?" Wash asked defensively.

"Nothing old chap," Wyoming reassured him. "Is it to impress dear Tex?"

"Possibly," Wash muttered. Four Seven Niner rolled her eyes, muttering about how men were so ridiculous towards each other, and jumped down from the wing of the Pelican.

"Well, we're done here," she dusted her hands. "Just waiting for the rest of you and then we're good to go." York checked his watch; 7:32.

"They should be here soon..." he started before the doors to the bay opened again. Carolina stalked in, wearing a plain turquoise dress and flat shoes. Her hair was tied back in it's usual ponytail.

"Wow, Carolina, you look really nice," York smiled at her. She scowled at him.

"Well I for one do not agree with this little 'outing' that we're going on!" she snapped and York stepped back, his hands raised in surrender. Carolina tossed her head in frustration and stormed onto the Pelican.

"What crawled up her ass and died?" Four Seven Niner muttered. A couple of minutes later, the doors opened again and South and Tex walked in, both with their hair down. Several of the marines turned to gawp, only to return hurriedly to their duties when they saw the death stares that North and Wash were giving them. South rolled her eyes and stalked up to the male agents, her hips swaying in her lilac and green dress that hugged her shoulders and accentuated her slim waist and her purple heels clicked on the ground. Tex followed, completely indifferent to the stares and wolf-whistles being thrown her way. Her own heels, in black, clicked on the floor and her knee length, strapless black dress with an empire waist and a swath of fabric that came up the front and over one shoulder showed off her figure. When she reached Wash, she raised her eyebrow at his hat.

"A Stetson? Really?" she asked teasingly as they boarded the Pelican with the other agents.

"What is everyone's problem with my hat?!" Wash protested.

* * *

The waiter walked over to the table where the Freelancers were sitting and handed out menus. When they had arrived, they had left Four Seven Niner and her Pelican in the aircraft hanger of the nearest military base. Following Delta's instructions, they had arrived at the restaurant he had found for them and had only had to wait ten minutes before they were seated. Wash browsed over the menu that he was holding between himself and Tex. They were sitting across from Wyoming, Maine, York and Carolina and next to North and South. Each pair had a menu between them, except Carolina kept refusing to look at the one that York was offering her. The AIs were hovering in the corner, talking quietly to each other.

"So what do you fancy?" Wash asked his girlfriend, who was looking at the different pasta dishes.

"I think I'll have..." Tex moved her finger over the different names on the menu. "That one," she decided, resting it on 'spaghetti carbonara'. Wash grinned and moved his own eyes across the menu. Tex stroked his cheek and smiled back.

_You two are disgusting, you do know that?_ Omega growled inside her head.

_Shut up Omega_, Tex retaliated mildly. When the waiter returned, they placed their orders and, once he had taken the menus away, began talking about all the AI implantations.

"Where is he even getting all these fragments from?" York demanded. "I mean, there have been at least fifteen created already that we know of."

"Yeah!" South agreed. "And how come the lower ranking agents, like Massachusetts, Calcutta and Kansas, have managed to get them before me and Wash?!"

"It's probably some warped method that the Director and the Counsellor have come up with," Tex theorised. "Or they're saving the best ones for you two."

"Possibly," Wash shrugged. "But will we ever know for sure? I mean, the Director does tend to keep a lot of things from us."

"What's wrong with you, old girl?" Wyoming turned to Carolina as the waiter returned with their meals. "You've been awfully quiet today."

"That's nothing to do with you Wyoming!" Carolina snapped, glaring at him.

"What's wrong Carolina?" South taunted in a sing-song tone. "Still pissed off that your precious AIs don't even like you?" Carolina turned to her, with her fists clenched and her eyes flashing. Omega perked up hopefully but logged off at a warning glance from Tex.

"South!" North hissed at his younger sister.

"Well at least I have an AI!" Carolina snarled. South growled and drew her fist back. North grabbed it and tried to force it back down to her side, but South (as she had proved many times in arm wrestling against him) was stronger than he was and kept her arm rigidly raised.

"South, you won't want to be doing that," Tex said warningly. South gnashed her teeth together but reluctantly lowered her fist.

"I don't need your help Texas!" Carolina snapped. Tex turned to her, one eyebrow raised. Omega appeared next to her, his arms folded and a smirk on his face.

"Oh it's not that," Tex said calmly. "I'm sure that you could have handled it Carolina. It's just we all decided that you're paying for everything tonight and we don't really want you knocked out (or killed) before you can settle the bill."


	20. Chapter 20

Temporarily Stranded

**A.N. Sorry about the Wallace and Gromit reference; I just had to. Some aspects of Wyoming remind me a lot of Wallace. I also blame Lambda**

* * *

"What do you mean we're stuck here?!" Carolina yelled at Four Seven Niner. The pilot looked up at her and glared.

"I mean that the engines have gone into stasis lock for some reason so we have to stay here for now," she snapped.

"Not that I'm devastated to be staying here," South muttered. "But I'd rather be wearing something else." She looked down at her thin dress, slightly rumpled due to vigorous dancing at the nightclub the agents had gone to after their meal (courtesy of Carolina...not that she had much choice in the matter). Wash looked over at Tex, who was shivering slightly in the cold night air, took his leather jacket off and put it round her shoulders. She smiled up at him gratefully and gave him a light kiss.

"So it looks like we have to find a hotel and book in now," York said simply.

"No shit," Four Seven Niner muttered, turning back to her Pelican. "I don't know about you lot, but I was planning on spending the night out here."

"Come now, old girl, there's no need to be like that," Wyoming said jovially. "We're going to have a cracking time."

"For the love of fuck..." Four Seven Niner rolled her eyes. "Who d'you think you are anyway? Wallace?"

"Who?" Theta looked at the agents in puzzlement.

"A character from a British TV show called Wallace and Gromit," North explained gently. "Gromit was the dog who didn't say anything but was the smarter one who figured out the schemes and Wallace was the (not very bright) man who said 'cracking' a lot and was obsessed with cheese. They built lots of wacky inventions and things tended to go very wrong with them."

"Oh, ok," Theta said and logged off.

"Hey Delta, look up a hotel for us?" York said to his AI. Delta appeared and frowned.

"Agent York, I am not a satnav," he said irritably. "I cannot always find what you require."

"Just do it Delta. We're freezing and we're knackered," York replied, just as irritably.

"Both of you stop it," Tex spoke up, drawing Wash's jacket closer to her body as a gust of wind whistled past them. "Arguing won't get anyone anywhere, and at the moment we have more pressing matters to deal with. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," York and Delta said sheepishly at the same time.

"I believe that I may have come up with a suitable residence," Sigma appeared next to Maine. "It is five miles south west of here and it is called 'The Four Pears'. It also has enough vacancies to take everyone here in."

"Excellent. Thank you Sigma," Tex said briskly as North and South began walking in the direction that Sigma had directed them in and the others began to follow them.

"My pleasure, Agent Texas," the AI replied smoothly. "Anything I can do to help."

"Kiss-ass," Omega, Gamma, Wash and Maine snorted at the same time.

* * *

Wash walked out of the bathroom, rubbing a towel over his hair to dry it. The showers in The Four Pears were good ones with plenty of hot water coming out of the faucet in a steady stream. Tex was sitting on the bed, examining her fingernails and wearing a bathrobe. They were sharing a room next door to Wyoming, Maine, North and York and Carolina, South and Four Seven Niner. Wash finished drying his hair, ran his hand through it and slung the towel round his shoulders. Sitting down on the bed, he crawled up next to Tex and gently stroked her bare shoulder. She gave a soft giggle and 'walked' her fingers up his hand and arm. He retaliated by grabbing her hand and slowly kissing the knuckles and the fingers one by one. Tex gave a big grin and playfully pushed him down on the bed and crawled on top of him. He tangled his hands in her hair and pulled her close to him. He slowly brushed his lips against hers before kissing her a little more firmly. She pressed up against his chest and grabbed his shoulders with her hand, pulling off the towel in the process. His arms tightened around her and their lips crushed together. Wash's hand slowly moved up Tex's back and loosened the ties of the bathrobe she was wearing. It slowly dropped off her body and she kicked it into the floor. Omega looked over at them from where he was hovering over the balcony, contemplating the meaning of life...and how to destroy everything in his sight.

* * *

The alarm clock in South, Carolina and Four Seven Niner's room began to shriek, along with the hand held radio that the pilot took with her everywhere.

"Get that thing to shut the fuck up!" South howled, burying her head in the pillow. Carolina sat up immediately and began quickly dressing in the civvies that the hotel had kindly provided for the females. Four Seven Niner grunted and picked up the radio as South stared at Carolina in bewilderment and began muttering about keen beans.

"This is Four Seven Niner," the pilot said sleepily into the radio.

"Four Seven Niner, this is military base Zeta-15-Cougar. We have finished all repairs on your aircraft. The problem was, a loose bolt on the fuel pipeline dropped into one of the gears and jammed them; nothing serious. Your aircraft is now able to fly and waiting for you to pick it up when ready."

"We'll be there soon," Four Seven Niner sighed in relief when she heard that it was nothing major that had caused the fault. "Thanks. Four Seven Niner, out. Hey guys, can you wake the others?" she asked Carolina and South, now both fully dressed (much to South's annoyance).

"Of course," Carolina simpered and was about to go out the door when she was tripped up by South and sent flying face first into the chest of drawers.

"I'll do it!" South snapped and stalked out the door. Four Seven Niner looked over at Carolina as she began dressing in her usual pilot uniform and smirked, not at all inclined to help her out.

* * *

South pushed open the door to Wash and Tex's room and opened the curtains.

"Rise and shine!" she said in a mock childish tone. Wash groaned and pulled the duvet over his head and Tex muttered some swear words into her pillow.

"Ship's fixed," South continued, walking over to stand at the edge of the bed. "And we want to leave ASAP. So come on lovebirds, get your asses out of bed!"

"We're up!" Wash said thickly, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Tex rested her head on his shoulder and tried to smooth some of her wild black hair down with her hand.

"Good," South beamed and exited the room to go next door.

"Huh, that wake up wasn't too bad, given that it was South who was doing it," Wash mused as he and Tex got out of bed and began pulling some clothes on. Tex smiled and stroked his cheek.

"I have a feeling that the others, especially North, might not agree with you on that one Wash," she said softly. She was right, for once South had woken Wyoming, York and Maine up by shaking them (very gingerly to the latter), she gave her brother his special wake up call; she rolled him over and stamped on his balls.

"Hey dickhead! Hurry up and get your fucking ass up!" she snapped as North rolled off the bed with a howl of pain.


	21. Chapter 21

Guidance

"This'll never get old," Tex gasped as Wash brushed his lips over her bare neck. He grinned in agreement and moaned as her fingers ran over his back. She gave a mischievous smile and grasped his shoulders. Gently, she turned them both around so that she was lying on top of him. Wash was panting slightly and Tex's cheeks were flushed. He reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she stroked his cheek with her fingernail. He gave another soft moan as she bent down, so she was roughly eye-to-eye with him, and rested her lips on top of his. He slowly caressed the small of her back as he responded enthusiastically. Omega (who was used to this sort of thing by now) was browsing over the DVDs by the bookcase and, unbeknownst to any of them, the Director was silently standing outside the bedroom door, listening in with a tremendous scowl on his face. As Wash began to make numerous sounds of pleasure, the Director clenched his fists, turned on his heel and marched down the corridor. He was so preoccupied in his own thoughts, he didn't notice the bucket filled with cold custard that was strategically balanced on top of the door until he was covered in it.

"Who the hell did this?!" he snarled, throwing the bucket to one side and storming through the door. Behind him, three AIs appeared, laughing silently.

"_That was a nice touch with the custard there Theta_," Gamma chuckled. Theta's cheeks turned slightly opaque and he traced his foot in circles on the floor.

"I heard about a prank like this from North," he said truthfully.

"_Well it certainly did its job when it was needed_," Gamma replied, still chuckling.

"I think that this...experiment has been very valuable in proving how successfully we can work together," Sigma said thoughtfully. Theta and Gamma exchanged an alarmed look and logged off. Sigma gave a sinister smile, still looking at the door the Director had exited through.

"Soon," he whispered. "Soon Director, you will witness why it was so foolish to try and keep us apart when we were made to be together."

* * *

Tex kicked Colorado away and whirled to block Wyoming's punch. As usual, it was Last Man Standing but for the first time, a lower ranking agent was participating. Colorado had recently had a successful mission and AI implantation to boot so the Director had decided to pitch her against the highest ranking agents to see how she fared. At the moment, she wasn't doing too badly. Better than York who was, at the moment, rolling about on the floor, grasping, predictably, his balls and was having to deal with Delta's relentless onslaught of analysis. Tex flipped backwards over Wyoming and a firm punch to the back sent him toppling into Colorado. They both groaned and their AIs appeared, checking for any serious injury.

"Match concluded," F.I.L.S.S. chirped. "Winner: Agent Texas. Congratulations!" York and Wyoming staggered upright and, after nodding to Tex and Omega, exited the room, York muttering that he was in desperate need of an ice pack. Tex strode over to Colorado and extended her hand to the other agent. Colorado took it, with a grateful look on her face, and hauled herself upright.

"That was brutal," she muttered in her Russian accent.

"That's how we do things at the top of the leader board, kid," Tex replied, not unkindly, as they exited the training room.

"I'm surprised that you lot haven't been killed yet," Colorado said, rubbing the back of her neck where her AI chip was implanted. Tex pulled her helmet off and Colorado followed suit. The two women stopped and faced each other, Colorado's shy brown eyes staring into Tex's stormy blue ones.

"AI playing up?" Tex asked sympathetically.

"A bit," Colorado said sadly. "He's always so...so indignant. He gets pissy when things go wrong and always insists that it's not our fault, even when it is."

"Don't worry about it kid," Tex reassured her as they began walking again. "The AIs all have their different personalities, some emotions are just stronger than others. Take this little bugger," she jerked her finger at Omega, who had just appeared. "He's angry pretty much 24/7 but that's just the way he is. Oh come on Omega, you know I love you really," she said as she saw her AI scowl.

"Don't push your luck Texas," he growled as he logged off.

"See what I mean?" Tex turned to Colorado. The other agent gave a more relaxed smile.

"Thanks Texas," she said as they reached the dining hall. Tex grinned.

"Call me Tex; everyone does. And hey, if you're going to be hanging with us for a bit, I've got some advice for you: don't get on the wrong side of Maine as it will be the last thing you ever do. Be careful of South cos she can be incredibly cranky, especially because you've got an AI, but when you get in her good books, she's lovely. North and York are great for a good laugh and they're both really supportive. Wyoming has special...rituals you could call it; don't question them. Carolina is a bitch; 'nuff said, Wash is mine so don't try anything there sister or I may be required to kill you," she looked at Colorado with a humorous expression on her face and deadly seriousness in her eyes.

* * *

"I see you've been talking to Colorado," Wash said later that night. He was reclining on Tex's bed as she slotted the DVD into the player for their movie night. Omega appeared and looked at which film it was.

"_Romeo and Juliet_?" he demanded. "What the fuck?"

"It's the more modern one with Leonardo DiCaprio," Tex told him. "It's filled with car chases, guns and all the Montagues wear Hawaiian shirts. You'd look sexy in a Hawaiian shirt, Wash," she called over her shoulder.

"Is that sarcasm?" he called back.

"Course not," Tex inserted the DVD and walked over to Wash and climbed up beside him as the film began to play.

"I'll take your word for it," Wash turned his head and brushed his lips over hers.

"You'd have to lose the Stetson with it though," Tex said, moving behind him and massaging his shoulders.

"Why? D'you not like it?" Wash asked in a mock hurt tone.

"Love it," Tex reassured him, leaning forwards and planting a kiss on his cheek. Wash grinned, turned round and crawled on top of her. She gave a playful squeal as he moved his lips over her neck and mouth.

"So yeah, I was talking to Colorado earlier," Tex mumbled into his shoulder.

"She seems like a good agent," Wash replied, gently stroking the back of her neck.

"She is; she did quite well in Last Man Standing earlier."

"So pretty good then. Of course, nowhere near as good as you."

"You flatterer," Tex rolled her eyes and gave a small scream of pleasure as Wash slowly ran his fingers down her neck and lightly pressed his lips to her.

"What the fuck is with this guy?!" Omega snarled suddenly, jerking them out of their embrace. He was glaring at the TV screen, in particular at Romeo.

"What is it Omega?" Tex sighed.

"Look at that prick!" the AI growled, clenching his fists.

"He'll cheer up when they all start dying," Wash said mildly. "Now, where were we?"

"There's a lot of deaths?" Omega perked up.

"Shouldn't have told him that Wash," Tex said dryly.


	22. Chapter 22

Competition

**A.N. As you may have noticed, last chapter Feelings reached 100 reviews. Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed this story and special thanks go to glittering wolf for the first ever review and U will nvr know for the 100th review. Anyway, hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Tex's hand crept up Wash's spine and rested on the back of his neck, the fingers curling around his blonde hair. One of Wash's own hands was moving against the back of her neck, gently stroking it, and the other was resting on the small of her back. Tex gave a soft sigh of pleasure and brushed her lips over his. He responded by moving his hands so that they were curled around her shoulders and moved his lips across her neck. Tex gave another sigh as Wash lightly kissed her cheek and then returned to her mouth. She thrust slightly with her hips and a tingle ran down her spine as he gave a moan of pleasure. Omega was hovering over the holographic schedule that Tex had received earlier, frowning. His eyes travelled down it for the fifth time but it revealed no change. There was going to be a team competition for the top Freelancers later that day; the males against the females. It involved AI theory tests, hand-to-hand combat, weapons training and shit like that. What Omega was concerned about, however, was that there seemed to be no reason why the competition was happening or what the 'prize' would be at the end. All he could guess was that the Director had orchestrated it for his own sinister purposes which just so happened to concern Tex. Omega's fists clenched at the thought. Not that he'd ever admit it to anyone, but Texas was pretty much the only person he actually cared about. Of course there was also Escopeta, and Washington to an extent, but it wasn't quite the same as the relationship he had with Texas. Omega turned his head to where Wash and Tex were still embracing and then back to the schedule. On the bright side, this competition might be a good chance to kick Carolina's sorry ass.

* * *

The Director strode down the corridor and entered the training room, the Counsellor close behind him. The top 8 agents were already waiting for him and saluted when he walked up to them.

"At ease," he said nodding to them. "Agents, I am sure that you are all wondering what this competition is for. Well, it is to test your capabilities when you are working with people you don't usually work with against people you usually do. However, because the female agents have two less on their team than the male agents, I am pleased to announce that Agents Colorado and Minnesota will be joining you." The doors opened and the lower ranking agents entered and joined Tex, South and Carolina.

"Before you begin each test, you will be allowed fifteen minutes of planning time," the Counsellor said calmly. "However before the first test, you are allowed thirty minutes, fifteen of which should be used to assess each other. Any questions?"

"Yeah," South demanded, raising her hand. "What do we get at the end of this?"

"You may chose your own prizes," the Counsellor said before the Director could speak. "And the losing team _must_ do what the winning team has told them to do. Understood?" Both teams grumbled a bit before nodding.

"Excellent," the Director barked, glaring at the Counsellor. "F.I.L.S.S. will inform you when your fifteen minutes of introduction time is over and what the first test is. Good luck." And with that, he and the Counsellor exited the room. As the two teams were turning away, Wash grabbed Tex's arm.

"I've got a certain prize in mind for you," he said, his eyes glinting mischievously.

"Might want to save that thought Wash, cos we're gonna kick your asses," Tex retaliated and quickly pressed her lips to his. As she rejoined her team, Wash stared after her.

"Hey, Wash? You ok man?" York asked, striding up to him.

"For now," Wash replied. "But I have a horrible feeling that we're not going to survive this competition."

* * *

"Oh bollocks!" Wyoming cursed, ducking as a well-placed kick from Minnesota sent Maine flying over him and straight into North. The Indian Freelancer dusted a speck off her spotless dark green and silver armour and gave him a sarcastic salute. Maine growled and staggered upright, hauling North up in the process, before a punch took him off his feet again. Looking up, he saw South grin down at him before she turned her attention to her unfortunate brother.

So _glad I'm not in his armour_, Maine chuckled, getting up again before he was rugby-tackled to the ground.

_Uh oh_, he gulped as he looked up to see Tex looking down at him. She slowly cracked her knuckles, one by one, and grinned at him.

_Shit_, Maine said flatly, screwing up his eyes in preparation for the ball-located-pain that was inevitably coming. He turned his head to the side to see North in a headlock, Wash and York trying to run away from Colorado, Wyoming desperately trying to defend himself against Minnesota and Carolina lying unconscious in the corner; she had 'accidentally' been punched in the face by South. From the beginning of the competition, it was obvious that the males were fighting a losing battle. From the vigorous (and immensely painful) game of Grifball at the start, to the more redeeming manoeuvre theories, to the more vicious version of Tex's favourite training program Last Man Standing, to the AI exercises where Eta, Iota, Omega and Xi (Colorado's AI) had dominated Delta, Theta, Gamma and Sigma and finally, the last round; Close Quarters Combat, which was by far the worst one yet. Omega appeared next to Tex and gave his trademark evil laugh. Maine gulped as Tex drew her fist back.

_Ouch_, he squeaked as her fist came crashing back down.

* * *

"Excellent work agents," the Director announced as South, Tex, Colorado and Minnesota stood before him (Carolina was still unconscious). "You have proved that you are able to work well and as a team, even though this was a new experience for you. Congratulations." _Except the Counsellor had to open his big mouth and say they could choose their own prizes, _he thought bitterly._ If I had had time to reply before he did, I could have bagged an evening with Allison..._

"Oh No-orth," South sang, turning to her brother with an evil glint in her eye. "It's reward time." North looked up at his sister and gulped as she dragged him off by his ear. Colorado and Minnesota looked at each other, grinned, and then looked at York, Maine and Wyoming.

"Uh oh," the three men gulped. Wash limped over to Tex and looked at her as she beckoned to him to follow her.

"Where are we going...?" he asked warily.

"Just my room," Tex replied innocently, opening the door. Wash gave her a suspicious look before entering. Tex followed him in and shut the door behind her. Wash turned to her.

"So what happens now?" Tex looked up at him, an evil smile on her face.

"As South said," she purred, as she grabbed Wash's chest armour, pushed him down onto the bed and then crawled onto his hips. "It's reward time. Only luckily for you, yours isn't going to be as painful as North's is doubtless going to be."

* * *

**A.N. For any of you who are curious, North was forced to do whatever South told him to do for 24 hours, which involved him allowing her to have Theta in her head and stuff like that. As for what Colorado and Minnesota did to Maine, York and Wyoming...well I'll leave that up to your imaginations**


	23. Chapter 23

Touché

**A.N. U will nvr know-Wow, that is a lot of aliases. It's fun to talk in another language (I do it in German all the time and it's especially fun when people can't understand you so you can piss them off) and fortunately Google Translate provides us with that ability, even if it is pretty crap sometimes. Glad you're enjoying the story and it doesn't matter that your review (which was the 100th one) was a bit awkward; any reviews are tolerated except for flames. The Meta enjoys eating those. Also, when you say an assassination attempt, who's it on? Finally, yes the Director is a fucked up arsehole and is too blind to see that Tex isn't Allison. If he came to Britain in real life, we would beat the shit out of him and I'm sure the same would happen if he went to America. Oh well, it's his own fault. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Tex gave a muffled scream of pleasure as Wash's lips moved up her neck towards her mouth and rested there. He gently moved his hand behind her neck, so that it was supporting her head, and pulled her closer to him. Her arms folded around his neck and she curled into him. He gave a low moan as he felt her hair tickling the side of his neck and her hand crawling up his spine. He almost winced as it brushed over the bruises he had received from the competition three days ago but instead ignored the pain and focused on Tex. He gently lowered her head again and slowly moved his hand so that the fingers were lightly curled around the black curls that came cascading down past her shoulders. He took one of the locks in his fingers and absently twirled it around them. Tex opened an eye and raised an eyebrow but she didn't complain. Wash's lips slowly moved back down her neck and travelled across her shoulders. Tex's hips thrust slightly and he gave another moan, pleasure tingling down his spine like electricity.

_Best night ever,_ he thought happily to himself as he enclosed one of Tex's hands in his own and moved his other down to her hips. _Of all time._

* * *

Colorado pressedthe button to open the doors to the dining room. She quietly walked over to where the food was, avoiding the bunch of marines chatting in the middle of the room, picked up a tray with some food that looked edible on it and turned to see where she could sit. To her left, Hawaii and his 'gang' were talking loudly and obnoxiously, something which frequently irritated Colorado, and lots of other agents. Unsurprisingly, there was a new female sitting in Hawaii's lap; that agent was a known womaniser. Colorado had once been to the Hawaiian islands and she firmly believed that they did not deserve someone as irritating as Agent Hawaii to share their name. They had absolutely no similarities and the islands were her favourite holiday destination. Hawaii's reputation in Project Freelancer wasn't going to ruin her view on the islands. Colorado turned away from Hawaii and his hyenas and looked to her right. At the back she saw Minnesota, Illinois, Kansas, California and Delaware. They weren't exactly BFFs but they got on well so she began to make her way over to them before a hand fell on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw North smiling at he_r._

"Hey Colorado," he said kindly.

"Hello North," Colorado said, forcing her voice to remain steady. She was pleased that she has her helmet on because her face felt like it was burning. She gave a small smile, although he couldn't see it.

"Why don't you come sit with us?" North offered, tilting his head towards where Wyoming, Maine, York, South, Tex, Wash and their AIs were sitting.

"I would be most honoured, thank you," Colorado felt like her heart was doing jumping jacks. For once, Xi was silent. She ducked her head, blushing. It was true she had a huge crush on North, but she had never thought that he would actually _notice_ her or invite her over to sit with him and his friends. North gave that heart-stopping smile again and beckoned for her to follow him. When they reached the table, Colorado put her tray down next to Maine (help) and slid into the seat. She slowly took her helmet off, hands shaking madly, and picked up her fork.

"I say old chap, what were all those noises about last night?" Wyoming asked Wash and Tex suddenly.

"Noises? What noises?" Wash asked lamely.

"That's nothing to do with you Wyoming," Tex said calmly and Colorado felt a rush of admiration for the highest ranking agent. "Anyway, how would you know this? Were you spying on us?"

"Touché my dear Tex," Wyoming raised his eyebrow and leant back in his seat as Maine gave a dry chuckle.

"Your inner pervert has been exposed Wyoming," South smirked.

"Busted," York chimed in.

"Goddammit! Foiled again!" Wyoming said dramatically, passing the whole thing off as a joke. Colorado gave a tiny smile as she continued eating her meal in silence.

"Hey newbie," South snapped suddenly, turning on her. "What training sessions have you had today?" Colorado jumped.

"Uh, only CQC and weapons training so far," she muttered.

"And was the AI ok?" South's lip curled into a sneer.

"Er..."

"South, leave it," North said calmly but with a hint of irritation, causing Colorado's heart to flutter. "You'll get your own AI soon enough." South gave a non-committal snort and turned back to her meal. Colorado slowly let out her breath that she hasn't realised she was holding and then caught it as North leaned forwards.

"Sorry 'bout South," he said softly, causing Colorado's heart to go into overdrive. "She just gets a little irritated over the fact that she doesn't have an AI and some other agents do. It'll pass. It did with Tex." He gave another smile and leant back in his seat.

Colorado felt like she was about to faint.

* * *

"Ohh, that feels good," Wash groaned in pleasure.

"I know," Tex replied, bending over so that her lips were near Wash's ear. She straightened up and returned to massaging Wash's back. They had both had a vigorous day of training and although Tex had been able to have a shower and relax before dinner, Wash's break had been straight after lunch so he hadn't had that privilege. So now, he was lying face down on Tex's bed with his top off and she was sitting on his hips, massaging the tensions out of his shoulders. He gave another groan as she pushed in with her fingers, loosening the muscles.

"It hurts too good!" he protested.

"Have you never had a massage before, Washington?" Tex sat up and put her hands on her hips.

"A couple," Wash replied. "But I wasn't in as much pain before those as I am now and the people giving me the massage weren't nearly as good looking as you are."

"You flatterer," Tex rolled her eyes, but planted a kiss on his cheek before she went back to massaging.

"Say, what was up with Colorado earlier?" Wash asked suddenly. "She seemed...different at lunch." Omega appeared and he and Tex shared a look.

"Her AI was behaving normally," Omega commented. "So it must be something to do with her." Tex sighed in exasperation.

"Well isn't it obvious?" she said, finishing the massage and letting Wash get up with a groan of relief and pleasure.

"What?" Omega and Wash looked at each other in confusion. Tex rolled her eyes.

"_Men_. Colorado has a crush on North," she said simply.

"Really?" Wash's eyes widened. Tex nodded.

"Uh huh. You could tell by the way she reacted when he spoke to her and the way she was looking at him. It's quite sweet really."

"I hate sweet," Omega grumbled.

"You hate pretty much everything," Tex raised her eyebrow.

"Touché," Omega folded his arms and inclined his head.

"Is that why South snapped at her then?" Wash asked. Tex shrugged.

"It could be, but South is quite unpredictable. It could be a mixture of that and the whole AI thing."

"Wow," Wash shook his head slightly. "Colorado and North. Who'd have thought?"

"Obviously neither of you two," Tex pointed out.

"Touché," Wash and Omega said at the same time.

"Jinx!" Wash yelled before Omega could respond. The AI folded his arms and growled.

"How mature," he logged off.

"Well guess we've got some time to ourselves before curfew," Wash grinned at Tex, who gave a sigh but smiled and began unbuttoning her blouse.

"Yay," Wash smiled, crawling on top of her as they locked lips.

"One of life's greatest pleasures," Tex murmured, grinning up at him as he moved his lips over her neck.

"What? Being with my beautiful, intelligent, deadly girlfriend?" Wash replied.

"Flatterer," Tex rolled her eyes but gave a small gasp of pleasure as Wash's lips moved across her body.

"You keep telling me off for that, but you never tell me to stop," Wash looked up and grinned. Tex raised her eyebrow but smiled back.

"Touché."


	24. Chapter 24

Realisations

Wash's hand reached down and brushed a strand of loose hair behind Tex's ear. She looked up at him and gave a small smile, running her fingernail over his bare chest. He gave a soft moan, pleasure tingling across his body, and leaned down in order to press his lips to hers. She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him closer to her. His fingers lazily caressed the back of her blouse and slipped under the material, stroking her back as it arched with pleasure. He slowly moved his lips down from her mouth and across her neck as he slowly undid the buttons on the front of her blouse. She raised her eyebrow but did nothing to stop him as he undid it fully and slowly ran his fingers down her side. She shivered slightly and ran her own finger down his cheek. Wash's lips traveled back up her neck and met her own once again. She wrapped her arms around his neck, loving the feeling of her hands pressed against his bare skin.

"Why does this always have to end eventually?" Wash muttered, more to himself than her.

"What?" Tex raised her eyebrow as her fingers slowly caressed the back of his neck. "We can't just do it non-stop y'know, Wash. All good things have to come to an end otherwise they aren't good anymore."

"But this isn't just a _good_ thing," he argued teasingly. "This is the _best_ thing."

"You're going to grow into a serious kiss-ass if you're not careful," she scolded him gently before gasping involuntarily in pleasure as Wash pressed his lips to hers again and his fingers ran over the small of her back.

* * *

Colorado pulled her helmet off and sank down against the training wall, panting. Xi kept insisting that she should get up and continue training but at the moment she was knackered and her AI had been firmly told to shut the fuck up. She pushed her blonde hair out of her line of vision and watched Tex and South ruthlessly beating Carolina back. The teal agent took South out with a quick kick to the stomach but before she joined Colorado, South gave Carolina a powerful punch to the head.

"And then there were two," Colorado said quietly, whether it was to herself or to Xi she didn't really know. Carolina gave a grunt of pain as a particularly vicious uppercut from Texas sent her flying to the ground. The black armoured agent approached her slowly.

"You know," Carolina began desperately, trying to use a tactic they had been taught about in class; either distract the enemy long enough so you could recover or make them angry so they would make stupid mistakes. "Th-the Director was right to do what he did. The project would have ground to a halt otherwise." Texas suddenly stopped. She was eerily still as Carolina staggered up and swayed a bit on her feet. As quick as a flash, Texas' fist shot out, catching Carolina on the jaw and taking her helmet off.

"What the-?!" Texas drop-kicked her in the stomach and spun round, elbowing her in the side of the neck. As Carolina crouched down, Texas kicked the back of her knees and flipped her over with a punch, effectively flooring her. Tex pulled her own helmet off and grabbed Carolina by the throat, forcing her to look at her. Dark green stared into stormy blue, which were gradually turning black.

"**You forget**," Tex/Omega said. "**That anger fuels my strength. That backfired on you, didn't it Carolina? And if you ever mention her again, then I will rip your spine out through your stomach and I hope to god that if she ever meets you, or him for that matter, then she will beat the shit out of you**." And with that, she dropped Carolina on the floor again, picked up her helmet and stalked out the training room, South and Colorado right behind her.

"I want my AI to do that, if I ever fucking get one," South said as they were halfway down the corridor. Tex smiled in response, her eyes slowly turning back to their normal blue.

"She's a bitch. She deserved it," she replied simply. South nodded.

"I know, right? I mean, bringing that up for her own personal fucking gain, that was just low." Colorado gave a small sneeze (the dust in the corridors did that to her) and the higher ranking agents jumped, apparently remembering that she was there.

"So what does your AI do?" South asked her brusquely.

"Oh, er," Colorado felt her cheeks turning pink; for some reason she always felt guilty talking to South because of her crush on North. "Just...just usual things that AIs do. Y'know, operating armour ability, offering advice on battlefield or in training..." she trailed off and looked anxiously at the other two females. Tex was merely watching her while South had her arms folded and her eyebrows raised.

"What about advice on how to impress my brother?" she asked. Colorado jumped about five feet backwards, her face on fire.

"How...how did you...did you know...?" she stuttered.

"That you have a crush on North?" South rolled her eyes. "Please. It's so obvious."

"R-really?" Colorado squeaked in dismay. If it was so obvious then had North realised it?! Oh god, oh god, oh god!

"To the female community," Tex clarified. "As usual, the men are totally oblivious to it." Colorado let out her breath in relief before looking nervously at South. Xi began to talk inside her head but she quickly shushed him. South raised her eyebrow again.

"Well obviously I'm a little creeped out," she said, reading the question on Colorado's face. "I mean fuck's sake, this is my fucking _brother_ we're talking about!" Colorado slowly twisted her hair around her finger, breathing in shorter, quicker breaths .

"Don't be too down," Tex reassured her. "Loads of people didn't think that me and Wash should be together but we are. We even had a baby together."

"Really?" Colorado asked curiously. Tex quickly bit her lip and South coughed awkwardly.

"Another story for another time kid," Tex said eventually, her voice a little shakier than usual. Colorado nodded, understanding that it was a sensitive subject. She was subsequently subjected to almost half an hour of interrogation by South.

K

* * *

"So Colorado now knows that you and South know that she has a crush on North?" Wash rubbed his forehead. "That's confusing."

"Only in Washington World," Tex replied, pulling off her helmet. The two Freelancers were in her room after a long day of training. Wash followed suit and ran a hand through his scruffy blonde hair. Tex grinned and walked up behind him.

"D'you need another massage?" she asked teasingly, running her fingers across the back of his neck and curling then round his hair. He gave a mock groan.

"Not after the last one," he turned round and lightly cupped her chin in his hand. She smiled, reached up and rested her hand on his cheek. He gently ran his thumb across her cheekbones as she stroked his eyebrow. She then grabbed his shoulders and pulled him close to her while he tangled one hand in her hair and rested the other on her hip. Omega appeared and gave a cough, causing them to break apart.

"This had better be important Omega," Tex growled warningly.

"Oh, I do believe that it is," Omega shrugged. "It's only the fact that New York has sent Delta to record your...doings in this room at this moment in time."

"Goddamn York and his addiction to blackmail," Wash grumbled. Tex calmly grabbed the armour that went over her hands and slotted it into place. She gave Wash a quick kiss as she walked past him to the door.

"Just going to show York why that's a bad idea," she said sweetly at his questioning glance. Wash winced and Omega gave a dark chuckle as Tex shut the door behind her and strode down the corridor.

A few thumps and several squawks of pain indicated that Tex had got her point across.


	25. Chapter 25

Alpha Females

Tex let out a small sigh and twined her hands around Wash's neck as he brushed his lips over her neck. She curled her fingers around his shoulders and arched her back so that her chest was pressed against his. He gave a moan of pleasure and tangled his hands in her hair. She gently pressed her lips to his and ran her fingers over his back, causing him to shiver slightly. His hand moved from beside her elbow and cupped her chin. She sighed again and thrust with her hips slightly as he gave another moan and caressed her hip with his other hand. Tex grabbed it with her own hand and Wash gently ran his thumb over her knuckles. His lips moved down from her mouth and travelled slowly across her neck and over her shoulder blades. Her fingers ran up his back and rested on either side of his own neck. Wash couldn't help but think about those fingers that were gentle and loving when they were with him but could easily break a person's neck.

* * *

"Look guys, I'm just saying," York said over lunch the next day. "We're strong, capable men that were selected to be part of a prestigious military program and yet we are clearly not the ones in charge. That just ain't right."

"York, let me get something straight," North leant forwards and frowned. "You're saying that we should...revolt or something like that?"

"Exactly!" York sat back in his seat and spread his hands. "What could go wrong?"

_Um, everything_, Maine growled.

"York, we will be _murdered_," Wash rubbed his forehead.

"Haven't you learnt anything from the competition we did the other week, mate?" Wyoming gave York a look as if he was crazy.

"Exactly!" York said again. "The competition. We were annihilated and then forced to do what the girls said we had to do with no resistance."

_Uh, I don't know about you lot but I actually enjoyed my night with Minnesota, _Maine admitted sheepishly.

"Wash," York turned to his friend. "In your relationship with Tex, who is the dominant one?"

"She is," Wash gave him a wary look. "Why?"

"And North," York was getting into his stride. "Out of you and South, who is the older twin?"

"Me..." North frowned.

"Yet who is in charge?" York persisted.

"She is..." North replied. "York, where is this going?"

"And Maine," York was on a roll. "When you spent a night with Minnesota, she was clearly in control, right?"

_I'm not sure I like where this conversation is going_, Maine growled uncomfortably.

"And Wyoming, who always beats you in training sessions?"

"The girls..." Wyoming trailed off and the four men exchanged wide-eyed glances as they realised what York was trying to say. The tan Freelancer smirked.

"I knew you'd see it my way in the end."

* * *

"This is the worst idea ever. Of all time," Wash muttered to himself as he paused outside of Tex's bedroom door.

"Just stick to the plan Wash!" York hissed over the comm. "Remember, we're men! We don't dare to escape life, we dare to stop life from escaping us!"

"If I get obliterated it is so your fault," Wash replied.

"There's only one way to find out!" Wash could almost see the smirk on his friend's face. He took a deep breath and opened the door...and subsequently had a book thrown at him.

"Argh! It's me! It's me!" he protested, ducking and shielding his head.

"Wash?" Tex looked up from her report and frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"I...uh..." Wash swallowed hard. "I...wanted to see my beautiful, intelligent, deadly girlfriend!" He could see York facepalming as he spoke. Tex put her pen down, stood up, turned to face him and frowned.

"What have you done?"

"What?! But...I...nothing!" Wash protested. "Why would you think I've done something?"

"One: You came in here without knocking, something you know better than to do," Tex ticked the points off on her fingers. "Two: You seem jittery and nervous. Three: You used a compliment on me that you've already used before. Four-"

"I get it, I get it!" Wash looked around in fright, ran over to her and pressed his lips to hers. She gave a few mumbles of surprise which increased as he grabbed her waist, whirled her round and gently lay her down on the bed. Tex raised her eyebrow as he crawled on top of her.

"We do things my way this time," he tried, though it sounded more like a question.

"Oh yeah, real smooth Wash," York groaned over the comm.

"I panicked!" Wash muttered sheepishly. At the same time, Tex was having her own private conversation with Omega.

_I'll get the straitjacket while you stall him._

_Deal._

* * *

"Something's...different with the men," South said that evening when she, Tex, Carolina, Colorado and Minnesota were sitting together in the relaxation room while the men were having their showers.

"I know," Tex frowned. "Wash wasn't acting himself earlier."

"Maine completely ignored me!" Carolina grumbled.

"Everyone ignores you Carolina because nobody likes you," South rolled her eyes.

"Ooh, burn," Minnesota smirked.

"I could still beat you in a fight!" Carolina growled, narrowing her eyes at the Indian Freelancer. Minnesota raised her eyebrow.

"I'd like to see you try, bitch."

"York, Wyoming and North were acting funny too," Colorado piped up in her Russian accent. "It was almost like they were...formulating plan or something."

"I think we should find out what's going on as soon as possible," South decided. "In whatever way possible...that includes banging my brother if necessary," she added and Colorado turned scarlet.

"That won't be necessary," Omega appeared. "Someone quite...useful has just entered." The female Freelancers turned to see Maine walking over to the coffee machine, fortunately out of his armour. As quick as a flash, the five women pounced and dragged their victim to the centre of the room. Maine, taken completely by surprise, had no idea what was going on until he had Minnesota and Carolina restraining his arms, Tex and Colorado holding his legs down and South standing over him with a Magnum pointed at his balls.

_What the fuck?!_

"Here's the deal Maine," South said sweetly. "You tell us what we want to know and your balls remain unharmed. Don't, and, well..." she fired a round into the ground just in front of his crotch. Maine's eyes widened. He knew that he could normally take them on and win (well, probably not with Tex) but at this current moment in time, they held all the cards.

_I'll talk_, he growled quietly.

"Good," South beamed. "Now then, what's going on with you males, hmm?"

_Er...it was all York's idea_, Maine's eyes never left the gun in South's hands. _He said we should rebel against your obvious authority and talked us all into_ it. _Evidently, it didn't_ _work_.

"No Maine, no it did not," South smiled again and put her Magnum away and she and the other four women walked to the other side of the room.

"Colorado, Minnesota, you two get weapons," Tex said quietly. "South, you and me will get the lockdown paint. Carolina, you...stay out of the way."

* * *

"So far it's going well," York said to Wyoming, North and Wash as they pulled their armour on and exited the showers. "We just need to continue in this way and we'll soon complete our objective."

"If Tex finds out I am so dead," Wash muttered.

"Same for me with South," North agreed.

"I say old chaps, where's Maine?" Wyoming frowned, looking around.

"Maine is...somewhat indisposed," a voice came from behind them.

"Oh shit," Wash gulped as the four men turned around slowly.

"'Oh shit' is right Washington," Tex smiled sweetly as she, South, Colorado and Minnesota pointed their lockdown paint guns at the four terrified men.

"Er, heh heh, you, uh, figured out our little scheme?" York said sheepishly.

"With little help from Maine," Colorado chuckled.

"How the bloody hell did they get _Maine_ to talk?!" Wyoming gulped.

"Another story for another time," Minnesota smirked. "But right now..." She quickly fired her gun four times, hitting Wyoming in the face, balls, chest and foot.

"Oh bollocks!" he groaned as he slowly collapse.

"SHIT! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" North howled and the remaining three male Freelancers took off. Tex, South and Colorado instantly followed. North got about ten metres before he was shot thrice in the back with a lockdown paint gun and fell flat on his face.

"Ooow," he groaned as Colorado slowly approached him.

"I am truly sorry about this," she murmured as she shot him multiple times in the crotch.

York and Wash skidded to a halt at a fork in the corridor.

"You take left, I'll take right!" York yelled and they spilt up. York tore down his side before he collapsed on the floor, his back and shoulders completely pink.

"Hello York," South sang, twirling her Magnum as she strode casually towards him.

"Oh fuck..."

Wash glanced over his shoulder as he ran. Nothing. Relieved, he stopped and panted, catching his breath. He didn't see Tex calmly walking up to him with her cloaking activated until he was shot thrice in the chest, once in the groin and four times in the face in rapid succession. Wash dropped to his knees with a groan and raised a hand. He was promptly shot twice more in the face and four times more in the crotch and made a high noise of intense pain. Tex deactivated her cloaking, removed his helmet and crouched beside him.

"Now Wash, who's in control here at Project Freelancer?" she asked sweetly.

"You are..." Wash groaned weakly. Tex smiled.

"Correct."

* * *

**A.N. U will nvr know-Don't worry, I haven't forgotten your assassination idea; I'm just saving it for a later chapter :)**


	26. Chapter 26

Consequences

"_Oooow_," Wash groaned. Tex gave a soft laugh as she rubbed the special cleanser into her boyfriend's shoulders. It appeared that when he had been shot with the lockdown paint, some of it had managed to get onto his skin so at that moment in time, Wash was lying face down in the showers and Tex was sitting on his hips, removing the traces of the paint from his skin. The entrance to the showers had been securely locked so that no other agent or AI (looking at a certain logic fragment and one-eyed blackmail loving agent in particular) could get in until Tex and Wash had finished and left. Tex's fingers lightly ran across the bruises on Wash's back and sides that he had received when he had fallen over backwards and the lockdown paint had done little to cushion his fall.

"_Oooouuuuch_," he groaned again and this time Tex gave a small sigh.

"D'you want this paint off or not Washington?" she asked sternly.

"Yes," Wash mumbled. "It just hurts so much...but it feels too good to stop!"

"_Men_," Tex rolled her eyes but went back to massaging the cleanser into Wash's skin. When it was all rubbed in, she grabbed the shower head and turned it on, rinsing the residue from the cleanser and the remains of the paint off his body. Wash sighed with relief and rolled onto his back once Tex had got off to put the shower head back in its original place.

"All gone," she smiled, crouching down next to him and smoothing his blonde hair down.

"That's good to know," Wash groaned and looked up at his grinning girlfriend. He reached up and tucked a piece of loose hair behind her ear before leaning up and pressing his lips to hers. She sighed in pleasure, grabbed his shoulders and pulled him up so that he was sitting up properly. His hands clasped her hips and he slowly lowered her onto her back. She curled her fingers around his hair and he slowly moved his lips over her neck and mouth. She ran her hand down the side of his face and he moaned with pleasure as he gently traced circles on her back.

"_Vive la revolution_," Wash mumbled into Tex's neck. She raised her eyebrow as she thrust with her hips.

"That doesn't work. Your 'revolution' epically failed."

* * *

"Right boys," South said, stalking up and down in front of North, York, Wyoming, Maine and Wash, all of whom were sitting in chairs and were trying to shrink out of sight. "As you know, you tried (and failed) to start a revolution. Seeing as you lost and we proved that we are the alphas here in the project, you must be punished...accordingly." Her eyes lit up with an evil glint as the men all gulped and sank lower in their seats. Behind South, Tex, Colorado and Minnesota folded their arms and smirked at the terrified males.

"So I have decided that we will each get to decide the fate of the male that we shot with lockdown paint," South continued. "However, because Maine wasn't shot, we have already decided his punishment. We had a word with the Director and he allowed us to program Sigma so that he was turned into a girl for 24 hours. Enjoy your new companion Maine," she smirked as Maine's jaw dropped and his face paled when he turned to his AI who was now bright pink and equipped with a handbag, heels, make up and magenta hair to boot.

_This is going to be a _long_ 24 hours_, Maine gulped as Sigma played with the end of her ponytail and glared at her brothers, who were all chortling at her new look.

"So," South looked at the remaining four males, who promptly stopped sniggering at Sigma and turned pale. "As you have probably figured out, Wyoming with Minnesota, North with Colorado, Wash with Tex and York with me. Let's have some fun ladies," she gave an evil smile as the four females surrounded their victims.

* * *

"_Oof_!" Wyoming grunted as a well placed spin kick from Minnesota sent him flying across the training room. He landed on the floor with a thud and groaned.

"Come on Wyoming," Minnesota's Indian accent taunted. "Is that the best you've got?"

"Not...by...a...long...shot...old...girl..." Wyoming panted, struggling to his feet. He and Gamma tensed, waiting for Minnesota's next move. She calmly walked up to him and cocked her head on one side. She remained eerily still so Wyoming slowly lowered his guard. Quick as a flash, Minnesota's fist flicked out and caught him on the jaw.

"Bloody hell!" he cursed, staggering backwards as she pounced, tackling him to the floor and twisting his arm behind his back.

"Oh bollocks," Wyoming sighed. He now fully understood what it meant to be somebody's punching bag. It meant _pain_ and a hell of a lot of it.

* * *

"Agent South, I must inform you that the logical thing to do is to cause a distraction that will lure Agent York out of his hiding place so he can then be cornered," Delta appeared next to South; as part of his punishment, York had been made to let Delta stay in South's head. The lilac and light green agent had then dragged him (literally) to the training room with the lockdown paint for a match. Without his AI offering advice that would benefit him, York was understandably nervous and had hidden in an nearly inaccessible area of the lockdown paint maze. South nodded and smirked. Shit it felt good to have an AI in her head. She had enjoyed it when she had forced North to let her have Theta and the combined experience with Delta was making her more anxious to get one. Breaking a loose bit of stone from one of the pillars, she tossed it towards the area that Delta had informed her that York was hiding in.

"Oh Yo-ork!" South sang. "It's time to come out and pla-ay!" She darted forwards and hid behind a pillar as several scuffling sounds indicated that York was emerging. He took several tentative steps forwards, his Magnum raised, before he spotted the stone.

"What the hell?" he muttered examining it. "How did that get here-_OH SHIT_!" he whirled round in a panic and came face-to-face with South's gun.

"Boo," she smirked.

"Oh fuck, not again," York had time to groan before she fired.

* * *

Colorado could never remember feeling this happy. Granted she _was_ meant to be _punishing_ North but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Instead, they were both in her shared quarters, sitting on her bed watching her favourite film; 'Метро'. In her defence, the 'punishment' part was that North couldn't understand a word because it was all in her native Russian.

"If South asks, I'll tell her that you used me as target practice or something like that," North said suddenly, turning and grinning at her. Colorado felt her cheeks flushing at the grin.

"And if your sister asks me, I will say same," she replied, marvelling at her ability to speak without her voice trembling too much. North grinned again and turned back to the screen. Xi began muttering inside Colorado's head but she shushed him and placed her hand on her rapidly beating heart. North stretched and leant back on the bed so the top of his head was level with her shoulder. Colorado blushed again and tucked her blonde hair behind her ear. She practically froze as North's hand suddenly reached up and lightly felt a strand.

"I love the colour of your hair," he said suddenly. "It reminds me of the sand outside the house in Clearwater (that's in Florida) we lived in for a while." He smiled again and turned back to Метро.

Colorado almost fainted.

* * *

Wash moaned and tangled his hands in Tex's hair. She gave a small sigh of pleasure and brushed her lips over his. Her hands moved up the sides of his body until they reached the back of his neck. The fingers of one hand lightly ran over the top of his spine while the other slipped underneath his own hair and stroked the back of his head. He let out another moan and his lips travelled over her neck.

"So is this really my punishment?" he asked teasingly as Tex caressed his cheek. She merely raised her eyebrow.

"Oh Wash, don't be ridiculous," she sighed in mock exasperation. "Of course this isn't your punishment."

"Er, heh heh," Wash laughed awkwardly. "Then, er, what is?" Tex gave an evil smile as she grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down onto the bed. He gulped as she slowly ran her fingernail down his cheek and bent over so that her lips were next to his ear. Omega appeared next to her and gave a dark chuckle.

"Why Wash," Tex whispered in his ear, her hot breath tickling his neck. "What I'm best at, naturally."


	27. Chapter 27

War Stories

"And so yet again, you're having to deal with my aches and pains," Wash grumbled as Tex massaged the area around his groin. She looked up at him and raised her eyebrow.

"In both cases, it was your own fault Wash," she scolded. "You shouldn't have tried to start a revolution and then failed."

"It was York's idea!" Wash protested weakly, wincing as stabs of pain rippled across his balls. Tex had made good her promise of punishment and had driven her fist (despite her insistence that it was gentle for her standards) into his balls. He had then had to go the rest of the day in a hell of a lot of pain without so much as an icepack to soothe it and Tex had only agreed to help with the pain after he had literally had to get down on his knees (again, extremely painful) and begged her, much to her and Omega's amusement.

"That hurts!" he complained. Tex gave an exasperated sigh and raised her head to look at him.

"D'you want me to stop then?"

"No!" Wash said hurriedly. "No need to do that."

"I thought so," Tex replied, lowering her head again. Wash leant back on the bed, closed his eyes and groaned with pain. Tex sighed again and ignored him. Wash opened one eye and looked at his girlfriend who was rubbing her fingers into his groin with an impartial look on her face. He closed his eye again, then opened both of them. Tex didn't seem to notice and continued to massage her boyfriend's balls. Wash cocked his head on one side before raising himself on his elbows. Moving closer to Tex, he reached out and raised her chin with his finger. As stormy blue met bright green, Wash leaned forwards and brushed his lips over hers. Tex's hands let go of his groin and grabbed his shoulders, pulling him closer to her. Wash twined his fingers in her hair and gave a moan of pleasure as her fingers ran across his bare shoulders. He moved his lips down from hers and across her neck. Tex gave a small sigh as she rested her own lips on his forehead and moved her legs so they were resting on either side of his hips. Wash momentarily forgot the pain in his balls as he slowly caressed her own hips.

* * *

"Hey Wash," York said gloomily as the two Freelancers walked to lunch the next day after some particularly gruelling training sessions.

"Hey man," Wash frowned. "You sound...strained."

"I am," York scowled. "Yesterday I spend over _five hours_ being South's punching bag and to make it worse, I had Delta giving her advice on how to _hurt_ me, rather than to _protect_ me!" he glared at his AI, who had just appeared.

"Agent York, since I was temporarily allied with Agent South, protocol dictates that I should help her in any means necessary," Delta replied calmly.

"Good to know," York grumbled as Delta logged off with a quiet chuckle. "What about you?" he turned back to Wash. "What was your 'punishment'? Given that you were with Tex, I bet it wasn't as bad as ours, huh?"

"You'd be surprised," Wash said dryly as they entered the dining hall, picked up some food and walked over to join North, Wyoming and Maine at their usual table. "It started off fine before she decided to do what she did best." The other four men winced.

"In the-?" North nodded his head towards Wash's crotch plate. Wash nodded.

"Ouch," Wyoming winced.

_We feel for you there, Wash_, Maine growled.

"Thanks," Wash said moodily. "What about you lot? How were you punished?"

"Minnesota is one bloody vicious little vixen," Wyoming pulled his helmet off and rubbed his right temple. "I was black and blue by the time she'd finished with me."

_Don't even get me started on Sigma_, Maine growled, glaring at his AI who was, fortunately, back to his original colour, design and gender. _All he kept going on about was clothes and shopping and rainbows and make up and sleepovers and shit like that. It was hell!_ Everyone turned to North who hasn't said anything yet. He shrugged.

"Colorado used me as target practice," he replied mildly. "It wasn't fun but I survived."

"Thinking about it," York said slowly. "You actually got off the best out of all of us and yet Colorado's not exactly a push over. Did you _see_ the bruise she gave Mississippi in her last training match against him?" Wyoming and Maine nodded in agreement and commented on the size of it. Wash remained silent; he knew that if he dared to let slip about Colorado's crush on North he would be ripped apart by the agent herself and also Tex, boyfriend or no boyfriend. North, however, merely shrugged and gave a relaxed smile.

"Guess I got lucky."

* * *

"I haven't had that much fun in a long time," South said that evening with a satisfied smile on her face. She, Tex, Colorado and Minnesota were all sitting in the relaxation room. The men were in the showers or the locker room but there were a few agents in the relaxation room along with them.

"I agree," Minnesota smirked. "I found it immensely satisfying to beat the shit out of Wyoming. I also heard that Maine had a rough time too."

"Let's just say that Sigma's...change turned him into a very interesting stereotype," Tex said mildly as Omega gave a dark chuckle.

"What happened with you and Wash?" South asked her, leaning forwards.

"The usual," Tex waved her hand airily. "Lulled him into a false sense of security before striking." She clenched her hand into a fist, indicating why she had been given a nickname by the lower ranking agents; the Queen of Ball Bashing. South and Minnesota chuckled while Colorado leant back in her seat, saying nothing.

"What about you, Rado?" Minnesota turned to her suddenly. "How did you punish North?"

"Oh, I, uh," Colorado jumped. "Well I...I mean we...I mean...uh...дерьмо," she cursed.

"Say what now?" Minnesota frowned. "Rado, I'm not sure if you know this but none of us speak Russian."

"Did it happen to involve my brother's cock and your-" South began, raising her eyebrow.

"South," Tex said warningly, cutting her off as Colorado turned scarlet.

"Wha-?! No, no, nothing like that!" she said hastily. "I just...used him for target practice. That's it! I, uh, дерьмо!" she cursed again, ducking her head in embarrassment.

"Woah, chillax Rado, we're not pissed off at you or anything," Minnesota soothed. "We just wanted to know how you punished North, ok? It's fine." Colorado gave a shaky laugh and looked sideways at South. The lilac and purple Freelancer merely shrugged and inspected her nails. Colorado hung her head again but before she did, she met Tex's stormy blue eyes for a moment. She gave a mental gulp as she remembered how they turned as black as her hair during the match against Carolina. Colorado respected Tex as an agent and also liked her because of her personality. However, like pretty much everyone except the higher ranking agents and Omega, she was also a little scared of her. Yet maybe Tex would be able to help her with her troubles over liking North and trying to get along with South at the same time; the black armoured Freelancer _had_ told her a bit about her relationship with Washington. However, before Colorado could ask Tex for help, she needed to get her act together and stop stuttering like an idiot whenever she and North were mentioned.

_дерьмо_.


	28. Chapter 28

Torture

**A.N. Before anybody tries to sue me, I have got permission from HydraFlow to use Vermont, Alaska and Zeta**

* * *

Colorado opened the door to her shared quarters with Nebraska and shut it behind her. She pulled off her helmet and collapsed on her bed. Before her training sessions against Minnesota, Hawaii (jackass) and Arizona, she had attended a meeting with the Director, Counsellor and top 8 agents. That, of course, included North. Even thinking about him now made her face feel like it was on fire. Before she had been raised from her lower ranking position to just beneath South, she had managed to conceal her crush for North well because the lower ranking agents rarely spent time with the top 8. After all, some of her friends (namely Illinois, California and Kansas) had had crushes on some of the higher ranking agents (Maine, York and South respectively) and they didn't have a problem with concealing it. However, since Colorado had been moved up, she was spending more time with the top 8 so although she was getting to spend more time with North, she was also finding it harder and harder to conceal her crush. Tex and South had already figured it out and she was just lucky that the other men were too idiotic to notice it. Colorado sighed and twirled a bit of her hair around her fingers, turning scarlet as she remembered what North had said about it when they were watching Метро the other day;

"_I love your hair. It reminds me of the sand outside our house in Clearwater (that's in Florida) that we used to live in_."

"What should I do Xi?" she said out loud. "Whole situation is getting чертовски ужасной."

"Ask the expert," her pink and blue AI said in his high pitched voice. Colorado slowly sat up. Xi was right; she _should_ ask an expert. And she knew _exactly_ who to talk to.

* * *

Colorado swallowed as she turned the corner to the right of her corridor instead of turning left as she usually did. She walked quickly with her head down and subsequently didn't see the other two agents walking down the corridor until she banged into them.

"О ерунда," she cursed. "I'm so sorry."

"Where are you off to in such a hurry Agent Colorado?" the sweet voice of Zeta, Agent Vermont's AI, chimed. Colorado pushed her hair out of her eyes and gratefully took Alaska's outstretched hand to help herself up.

"Just going to see someone," she replied.

"Well it must be important," Vermont grinned at her. "What's it about Rado?"

"Monty!" his sister scolded. "It's none of your business!" Vermont held his hands up in protest.

"Hey, I'm sorry," he said humorously.

"Men," Alaska rolled her eyes at her brother and grinned at Colorado. "See ya round Rado." Zeta waved as the siblings continued on their way. Colorado tucked her hair behind her ears and continued on her way. She paused at the entrance the corridor she was travelling to and took a few deep breaths. Slowly, she began walking down the corridor, glancing at the name tags on the doors. Her face flushed as she passed the one that read _North Dakota and New York_. Eventually, she stopped outside the one that read _Texas_. Raising her fist, she timidly knocked on the door.

"_Washington, I swear to god if that's you I am going to rip your balls off! I told you that I was doing a report and would be ready until half past_-oh hey Rado," Tex smiled at the slightly alarmed Russian Freelancer. "Sorry bout that just then, I thought you were Wash."

"I'm sorry," Colorado stuttered. "If you're busy I can come back later..."

"Nah, it's fine," Tex tucked some of her jet black hair behind her ear. "Come on in."

* * *

Omega watched from the bookcase as Colorado entered Texas' room and sat down on the bed. His feelings towards the lower ranking agent were fairly neutral at the moment; she was decent at fighting and theory but he didn't know her that well so therefore he wasn't going to get attached to her (no you fools, not attached attached, just toleration attachment) but at the same time, he wasn't going to blank her or encourage Texas to attack her. Texas herself sat down on the bed next to Colorado.

"So what d'you want to talk about?"

"Uh," Colorado stammered and lowered her voice. "You know I have crush on North?"

"Yes," Texas nodded, also lowering her voice.

"North Dakota is nowhere near this room," Omega pointed out in amusement.

"Shut up Omega, we're having a girl talk," Texas retaliated mildly.

"Uh yeah, so," Colorado continued. "When I was at lower ranking, it was easier to conceal. However, now I have been moved up, I am spending more time with him and I am finding it harder to stop him finding out. I came to you because you are in relationship so would know what to do..." she trailed off.

"Go and punch a marine," Omega advised. Texas glared at him before calmly reaching for her laptop and typing something in. She turned the volume up to 100% and moved the laptop so the screen was facing Omega as the video began to play. His jaw dropped as the horrendous music began to play. The video was none other than...Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows!

"Nooooo!" he shrieked. "I'll shut up! Just make it stop!"

"Works every time," Texas smirked, exiting the video and turning her laptop off again as Colorado gave a giggle. Omega made a mixed sound of anger and pain and turned his back on them.

* * *

"Was Colorado just in here?" Wash asked as he entered Tex's room and shut the door behind him.

"Yeah, why?" she replied, shutting her laptop down, filing the papers on her desk away and turning round in her seat to face him.

"Oh, cos I just passed her in the corridor when I was coming back from the training room," he replied, sitting down on the bed and pulling his helmet off. Tex got up and sat down next to him.

"Yeah, she was in here. We were just having a little talk."

"About what?"

"None of your business Washington."

"Does it have anything to do with Omega sitting in the corner with his knees curled up to his chest and rocking back and forth?"

"What?" Tex glanced over at her AI who was doing just that and sighed. "Be right back." She walked out the door and down the corridor. A few minutes later, there was a high pitched squawk of pain and Tex and Omega returned, the latter looking much happier.

"Er, what just happened?" Wash looked at her in confusion.

"Oh, I just gave a marine a ball bashing to cheer Omega up," Tex waved her hand idly and sat down next to him again.

"I've been there," Wash winced. Tex looked at him in amusement.

"Not exactly," she smirked. "I was gentle towards you."

"_Gentle_?! That was not gentle!" Wash yelped. When Tex still smirked and raised her eyebrow, he scowled and brushed his lips over hers. Her eyes slowly closed and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He slowly lowered her onto her back and moved his lips over her neck. Tex gave a small sigh of pleasure and curled her fingers around Wash's hair while he gave a moan as he caressed her hips. Omega rolled his eyes and activated the laptop. It popped back up onto its last search and the video began to play again.

_Pink fluffy-_

"NO!"

* * *

**A.N. There is a video on YouTube called Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows (or PFUDOR for short). The song's insanely catchy and you can see why it would traumatise Omega**


End file.
